Following up on September 17th’s Scam of the day, today’s Scam of the day is a phony lottery scam that comes right from my own email and it may come from yours too. It is reproduced below and you will see when you read it that the grammar is atrocious. You may particularly notice the persistent lack of an “s” on the word that should be “states.” Many of the phony lottery scams that you receive originate in foreign countries where English is a second language. This particular scam email came from an address with “powerball” in the email address, but it is easy to create or spoof an email address that appears genuine even though it is not. This particular email also had no logo and did not look particularly official, but it still may appeal to someone whose greed blinds them to the fact that you can’t win a lottery you do not enter. As with all phony lotteries, once you make contact with the phony lottery sponsor, you soon learn that you have to pay fees or taxes in order to claim your prize. Unfortunately, too many people pay the scammers and none of them ever receive anything.
Here is a copy of what I received.
“POWERBALL JACKPOT
UNITED STATE MICHIGAN.
+ 1- 7027518845
POWERBALL JACKPOT AWARD NOTIFICATION
We happily announce to you the draw of the Powerball Jackpot Promotions
for the year 2013 at our Powerball Jackpot Draw Headquarters Michigan
United State organized by Powerball. This is to inform you that you have
won prize money of USD$400,000.00 (Four Hundred Thousand United State
Dollars).
Powerball Jackpot Inc. arranged and gathered some of all the e-mail
addresses of the people that are active online, among the millions that
subscribed to all Email Providers most especially Yahoo and Hotmail , we
only selected Twenty (20) candidates per annually as our winners through
Electronic Balloting System (EBS) without the candidate applying with
ticket numbers, we congratulate you for being one of our lucky winners.
For more information on past winners
PAYMENT OF PRIZE AND CLAIM
We are sorry that your Payment Approval File was sent to London due to
we have about 14 lucky winners in United State, in other for your claim
to be cleared and paid simultaneously You are to contact our Customer
Service Information Headquarters on or before your date of Claim.
Powerball Jackpot Prize must be claimed not later than 14 days from date
of Draw Notification after the Draw date in which Prize has won.
Note: Any prize not claimed within this period (14 days) will be
forfeited.
These are your Powerball Jackpot identification numbers:
Ticket number: 545 188 5656,
Prize # 778209US/US,
Winning Number: 4653US/N,
Serial number 538/013
Lucky numbers: 17 98 67 46
HOW TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE:
Simply contact our Customer Service Information Headquarters (CSIH
Department),
Dr Rev. Michael Lewis
E-mail: revmichael.lewis@outlook.com
revmichael.lewis5060@gmail.com
IMPORTANT NOTICE
Send these following information’s to the CSIH Department immediately
for further procession.
1 Full Name: ………………………………………………..
2 Cell phone:…………………………………………………
Or Telephone:………………………………………………..
3 Contact Address …………………………………………
4 Date of birth ………………………………………………
5 Age…………………………………………………………
6 Occupation………………………………………………..
7
Sex…………………………………………………………..
8 Marital Status……………………………………………
9 Country of Origin……………………………………………
10 Print out and sign your signature……………………………
11 What is your comment for Powerball Jackpot?
12 What is your advice for Powerball Jackpot?
13 How do you feel as a lucky winner on the Powerball Jackpot?
14 A Scan copy of your photo passport size——————–
KEEP YOUR WINNING PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL UNTIL YOU RECEIVE YOUR PRIZE
MONEY.
NOTE THAT NOBODY OR EVEN THE APPOINTED BANK HAS THE RIGHT TO TOUCH,
DEDUCT OR GET ACCESS TO YOUR PRIZE MONEY FOR ANY REASON THEY HAVE BEEN
WARNED STRICTLY!
For security reasons, we advice all winners to keep this information
confidential from the public until your claim is processed and your
prize released to you. This is part of our security protocol to avoid
double claiming and unwarranted taking advantage of this program by
non-participant or unofficial personnel.
Congratulations once again on your winnings!!!
Yours in service,
Frank Bruce
POWERBALL NOTIFICATION OFFICE
Copyright (c) 2013 Powerball Jackpot Promotions.”
TIP
I have warned you many times and unfortunately I will have to continue to warn people that you do not win lotteries that you do not enter and you do not pay fees and taxes to a lottery sponsor in order to claim a prize. It is as plain and simple as that. Don’t fall for phony lotteries.