Lottery scams
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Most of us dream of winning the lottery, hitting the big time and bagging ourselves a fortune. Now, lots of you are being told that those dreams have come true thanks to some of the most convincing scam letters being circulated yet.
These latest incarnations of an old scam write to let you, the 'winner', know that you've won anything from £100,000 to over £1,000,000. All you have to do is send them a form back with many of your most personal details including those of your bank account and they'll kindly send you the money. Some even ask you for large deposits in order to receive the money - cash you'll never see again.
Never heard of the lottery you're supposed to have won? Don't remember entering the lottery in the first place? Chances are that you didn't and the lottery doesn't exist or is a badly worded version of one you've already heard of. They may have all the right logos and have active phone numbers but you won't be speaking to any real lottery officials.
Actor John Challis received one such letter. John is most famous for his portrayal of Peckham second hand car dealer Boyce from 'Only Fools and Horses' and, more recently, 'Green, Green Grass'. John was so shocked to receive the letter that he got in touch with Watchdog to help warn others out there not to fall for such scams. Unfortunately, many people do. They get sucked in by the letters and money is often taken from their accounts or they send it willingly in the hope of receiving the 'lottery' winnings.
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) attempts to keep on top of the ever changing scams dropping through people's letterboxes. As part of their Scams Awareness Month the OFT has been placing yellow wheelie bins at local libraries. The idea is that every time you get a scam letter through the post, you chuck it in this bin. It is intended to remind people to be wary of these letters and lets the OFT know exactly how the scammers are operating.
For more advice visit the Office of Fair Trading website.
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I am refering to e-mails where a person claims to run a bank and has dead accounts worth millions, asking you to send your bank details in order to place the money in your account for a supposed share out. I can only assume it is identity theft.
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I fully understand and agree with John re lottery scams .However I would like to tell you of my experience .
I received a signed for package from USA in 2008 which contained a letter stating that I had won a $1000 on the 2006 International Opinion Sweepstakes . As I was aware of such scams I gave it a lot of thought and advice from relatives but decided to respond as there was no financial links .I sent them an email containing questions about finance ,who they were and why a 2006 lottery .They answered all the questions including the reason for the delay . They said that they had difficulty contacting me and could not close their books util payout .I accepted the reasons and replied tongue in cheek not expecting to hear anything more.Six weeks later I received a cheque for £536 ($1000)which has been cashed .The moral of the story is to question the company but not give anything away .
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Here is an example of lottery scams I am receiving. The e-mail address is bogus.
BRITISH LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL
PROMOTIONS/ PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT.
60 Merriman Road
Blackheath
CUSTOMER SERVICE
Ref. Number: BTL/491OXI/04
Batch Number: 12/25/0304
Ticket Number: 564 75600545-188
Serial Number: 5388/02
11/01/2009
Attn:Winner,
ONLINE NOTIFICATION OF WINNING
BRITISH LOTTERY, officially bring to your notice the final draw result of January 2009 BRITISH LOTTERY-wheel E-game which was conducted at our international corporate office complex in ouagadougou burkina faso.
Your e-mail address was attached to ticket number 56475600545-188 with serial number 5388/02 drew lucky numbers 7-14-18-31-45, which consequently won in the 1ST category, you have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay out of 1,000,000.00Pounds (ONE MILLION POUNDS STERLING).CONGRATULATIONS!
The selection process was carried out through random selection in our computerized email selection system(ess) from a database of over 250,000 email addresses drawn from which your Email was selected.
Due to mix up of some numbers and names, we ask that you keep your winning information confidential until your claims have been fully processed and your money remitted to you.This is part of our security protocol to avoid multiple claims and unwarranted abuse of this program by some members of the public.
For the release of your winning, kindly contact your claims manager at the The National Lottery Head Quarters via bellow informations:
Dr. Jane Anderson,
Payment and Release Order Dept.
E-mail: claimingoffice2009@yahoo.com
Furthermore, should there be any change in your address, do inform your Claims manager as soon as possible.Complete the form below and send it to the claims manager via email:
Full name:........................................................
Date of birth:.....................................................
Sex:..............................................................
Marital status:.................................................
Email:.............................................................
Occupation:......................................................
Nationality:...................................................
Lotto Batch Number:......................................
Lotto Reference Numbers:............................
phone Number:................................................
Address:...........................................................
Country of Residence:...................................
Select mode of collection of winning prize:
(1) ELECTRONIC BANK TRANSFER(BANK TO BANK TRANSFER)
(2) COURIER DELIVERY OF CERITIFIED BANK CHEQUE
Upon completion of the above form,you will be directed to contact the courier company or paying bank in charge of transfer of winning funds to winners
Congratulations once again from all members of our staff and thanks for being part of our promotions program. Replies to
Yours Sincerely,
Stella Robert (Online Co-ordinator)
Executive (International Sweepstakes).
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reading the previous letter scams, please also be very aware of email scams,mine was via yahoo mail. i very nearly fell into this, luckily no account details have been given, but still concerned that they have my age, phone number and maybe my postcode. this email scam was from "power ball lotto" based in croydon (tanfield road, croydon)via an ireland agent. Please be wary...
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This is a Lottery scam yhat I recieved by email today (31/03/09)...I would be interested to know if the names included have even ever worked for the BBC....
B.B.C LOTTERYBBC National Results.PO Box 200Harrogate England,UK 30 March 2009 Dear Winner, You have won the sum of $ 1,000,000 USD from BBC LOTTERY on our 2009 charity bonanza.The winning ticket wasselected from a Data Base of Internet Email Users, from which your Addresscame out as the winning coupon. We hereby urge you to claim the winning amount quickly as this is amonthly lottery. Failure to claim your win willresult into the reversion of the fund to our following month. You are therefore requested to contact immediately out Claims Departmentbelow quoting winning number :06 09 20 21 31 34 BONUS 48Kindly send the following for remittance of your funds: Your names: Contact telephone and fax numbers:Contact Address:Your winning numbers:Quote amount won: Contact the paying bank with the following immediately: International remittance officerNATWEST BANK LONDON.[Personal details removed] Email: custservices12@netscape.net Congratulations once again. Failure to claim your cash prize after this date will result in prizeforfeiture.In order to avoid unnecessary delays and complicationsremember to quotepersonal and winning numbers in correspondence withpaying bank. Regards,[Personal details removed] .National Lottery Results
[Note from Watchdog: The email you received has absolutely no relation to the BBC whatsoever. Regards, web team]
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