UK National Lottery Scam

PLEASE NOTE: The persons, companies or organisations mentioned in the example(s) below are not responsible for these e-mail scams. Organisations and individuals, pretending to act on behalf of these institutions/persons, initiate these scams and abuse the reputable names of these well-known institutions/persons, to add a false sense of security to these fraudulent e-mails. Also note that some scammers act on behalf of certain organisations that do not even exist.

Date: 6 April 2007
From: [DELETED]@planet.nl
To: <undisclosed recipients>
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS.............YOUR EMAIL HAS WON!!! KTU/9023118308/07

UK NATIONAL LOTTERY

The National Lottery
P O Box [DELETED]
Liverpool, [DELETED]
UNITED KINGDOM
(Customer S ervices)
Ref: UK/9420X2/68
Batch: 074/05/ZY369
Fax :[DELETED]

WINNING NOTIFICATION 2007

We happily announce to you the draw (#1177) of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY,online Sweepstakes Easter Bonanza and as part of our International program held on Wed 4th April 2007.Your e-mail address attached to ticket number: 56475600545188 with Serial number 5368/02 drew the lucky numbers: 03-35-39-42-44-48 (with bonus ball 41) which subsequently won Five(5)of you the Rollover prizes of £4,337,270.Therefore you have been approved to claim a total sum of £867,454 (Eight Hundred and Sixty-Seven Thousand,Four Hundred and Fifty-Four Pounds Sterlings) which is equivalent to 1,623,002.01 USD in cash credited to file KTU/9023118308/07

All participants for the online version were selected ra ndomly from the World Wide Web through a computer draw system and extracted from over 100,000 unions, associations, and corporate bodies that are listed online.

For security reasons, you are advised to keep your winning information confidential till your claim is processed and your money remitted to you in whatever manner you deem fit to claim your prize. This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program be warned. Please be informed that claims not processed within the stipulated period may be forfeited to the pool without further notice. Our European agent will immediately commence the process to facilitate the release of your funds as soon as you contact him. You may wish to establish contact via e-mail with the particulars presented below citing the batch and reference numbers to this letter between the hours of 8.00am - 7.30pm on Monday through Sunday
Overseas Claims Unit
United Kingdom Lottery Fiduciary
Contact Person:[DELETED]
Email: [DELETED]@yahoo.co.uk
Phone: [DELETED] [DELETED]
LOTTERYCLAIMS APPLICATION FORM-C (Prize Winning Receipt)
=======================================================================================
[FULL NAME OF WINNER].................................................................

[CURRENT ADDRESS].......................................................................

[COUNTRY/REGION]..........................................................................

[STATE/PROVINCE]...........................................................................

[AGE] ........... [SEX]...................................

[MARTIAL STATUS]..........................................................................

[OCCUPATION].................................................................................

[CURRENT EMAIL]............................................................................

[TEL/FAX].........................................................................................

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ENTRY WINNING INFORMATION
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[ENTRY TICKET NR]..................................................................

[DRAW DATE]...........................................................................

CLAIMANT SIGNATORY DECLARATION
====================================

I,......................................................................................HEREBY DECLARE THAT I HAVE NEVER RECIEVED ANY SETTLEMENT FROM THE NATIONALLOTTERY PROMOTION PRIZE AWARDS WINNING NOR ANY MEMBER OF MY FAMILY FILLED CLAIM ON MY BEHALF TO NATIONAL LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION. I, THEREFORE, UK NATIONAL LOTTERY PROMOTION PRIZE AWARDS WINNING PROMOTION TO ACT ON MY BEH ALF IN THE PROCESSING AND TRANSFER MY PRIZE AS INSTRUCTED BY ME.
=======================================================================================
Make Sure this Verification and Funds Release Form is sent to the Fiduciary agent for quick verification and funds release purpose. Our winners are assured of the utmost standards of confidentiality, and press anonymity until the end of proceedings, and beyond where they so desire. Be further advised to maintain the strictest level of confidentiality until the end of proceedings to circumvent problems associated with fraudulent claims. This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program.
Goodluck from me and members of staff of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY.

You have been advised to contact your claims officer with the above contact details.
Congratulations from me and members of staff of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY.
Yours faithfully,
[DELETED] (Mr.)
Online coordinator for UK NATIONAL LOTTERY
Sweepstakes International Program
Open 7 days 8am-8pm

This is an example of a more "professional-looking" lottery scam. But a couple of things betray its professionalism.

The From address reads "planet.nl" (which is probably spoofed). The National Lottery of the United Kingdom have their own domain and all their e-mails will originate from the "national-lottery.co.uk" domain. Furthermore, why would the National Lottery of the United Kingdom send an e-mail from a Netherlands domain? Makes no sense, does it?
The e-mail was sent to undisclosed recipients. This means it was sent to more than one recipient. It is impossible to attach several winners to a single ticket number. It may be argued that the e-mail address of a single recipient was added to the BCC field. But there is no merit in doing this. Why would they want to hide your e-mail address from yourself? Are they perhaps afraid that you may find out what your own e-mail address is?
A closer look at the e-mail reveals several spelling and punctuation errors. This is not something you would expect from the UK National Lottery.
The fiduciary agent needs to be contacted via a Yahoo! e-mail address, different address from the one they supposedly used to send the e-mail from. The UK National Lottery has its own domain, so why would they need to use a free e-mail account? The answer is easy, they will never do something like this.
The Featured Winner at the bottom of the e-mail contains a "More" button. When you hover with our mouse over it, you will see it is nothing more than a simple image. The original e-mail contains the same button, without any link. A professional organisation like the UK National Lottery will never include buttons in their e-mails without linking them to a web page or online resource. No, these scammers did not forget to add the link, the problem is, they have nothing to link to.

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