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HomeBlogJanuary, 2006

British Lottery Scam

Can five million Britians be duped? Yes, according to a study done by the British consumer protection organization Which?. Which? contacted more than 1000 Brits to see how widespread the scam problem is in the U.K. The results?

  • More than 28 million of 60 million citizens had been exposed to one or more scams.
  • Five million of those 28 fell victim to a scam.
  • The most popular scam related to "an automated phone call that invites people to claim a prize. A third of adults have received such a call and two million have responded, usually by calling a premium-rate number, which can cost up to GBP 1.50 ($2.70 U.S.) a minute."

The funny thing is that I've even seen people outside the U.K. fall victim to these international lottery scams. Here's a typical email that arrived in our honeypot inbox this week:

British Lottery Scam Email

As I was saying, I've received email from U.S. residents wondering if they'd really won after receiving an email like this. They never questioned how they'd won even though they weren't residents of the country where the lottery was held and had never even entered the lottery.

Greed makes us stupid, doesn't it? That's what the scammers count on.

UPDATE!
Many of you have also received snail mail versions of this scam. In this scam you receive a letter saying you've won as well as a check for $3,000 - $4,000 dollars to cover the taxes and processing fees - supposedly.

Anyway, listen up people.

This is a scam. The check is fake.

It may initially be accepted at your bank but will eventually be worth absolutely nothing. So when you deposit it and then send them a check from your account, you will lose money.

Ask yourself... Why would they send you a check and then have you send them a check right back for the same amount? Does that make sense? It does if you're trying to scam someone.

January 25, 2006
466 comments
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466 Comments

Dave

Posted 3/23/2006

I had someone email about this scam the other day. Here was my response:

"How can you win a lottery that you don't enter?

lot·ter·y (l?t'?-r?)
n., pl. -ies.

1. A contest in which tokens are distributed or sold, the winning token or tokens being secretly predetermined or ultimately selected in a random drawing.

You can't win if you don't enter.

This is a scam. That check will be worthless. You will deposit it in your account and then mail them a real check, or more likely, they'll ask for a money order or wire transfer. Once the money you send clears, you'll hear later from your bank that the check you deposited from them is worthless. You are then out $3,000.

Do not send them any money or information,

dave"

Anna Lou

Posted 3/22/2006

I also received an e-mail informing me that I won in the british Lottery. I checked the name and I came up with this site. Thanks. This is the 2nd one I got. I also received one letter like this from a Citlink Lottery in France. This really isn't good. I hope these people get caught.

A. Cable

Posted 3/22/2006

Oh, the check he received for taxes was $3,998.00, on the sum of $90,000.00 which he will not receive until completing the Western Union.

A. Cable

Posted 3/22/2006

My brother just received a check in the mail for the taxes and clearance fees for the sum of 90,000.00 he has just won. It also came with a letter from the United British Lotto asking that he call a number to speak with his representative. It made me a little uncomfortable because it said that he should keep this completely confidential to ensure that he receive the rest. He called the number (which turned out to be a Canadian number) and a woman said he needs to deposit the check into his account, let it clear, and then Western Union the money to a gentleman in Quebec. I am sckeptical as to whether or not this is the real deal. Please let me know if you know anything about this. Thanks a million; I appreciate it.

Dave

Posted 3/22/2006

It's all about the information you gave them. If you provided money + private information like Name, Date of Birth, SSN, Bank Account #, etc. you should assume that you are at risk and should contact your local police along with the U.S. Secret Service (assuming you're a U.S. citizen).

Posted 3/22/2006

I responded like an idiot, so now what can I do to prevent identity theft? What can awe all do after we responded?!

B. Calhoun

Posted 3/18/2006

Hey,So yeah I received one of those e-mails as well, what a jerk! But anyways I sent him a URL to one of the sites thats listed as scam!! Hope he enjoys that!!! haha!

K. Williams

Posted 3/16/2006

They are also beginning to use regular "snail mail", so beware and pass this along!

Flemming

Posted 3/2/2006

Just received 1 today, searched for info like this, had a look at the mail displayed above and noticed a 'funny' thing that if I compare my 'winning notification' with the before mentioned, I notice that they use exactly the same 'ticket no.' and 'serial no.' You would have thought that they were a bit more intelligent!
Take Care!

tope ajayi

Posted 3/2/2006

i also received a letter dat i won pls is it true

Humberto Escobar

Posted 2/27/2006

recibi un mail que decia que habia ganado 500.000 libras; el punto es que mande un mail para que me explicaran mejor las cosas, y me respondieron diciendo que tenia que llenar un formulario y adjuntar una copia de mi pasaporte,,,,,felizmente entre a esta pagina web y me di con la ingrata sorpresa de que el mail era exactamente igual al que mencionan lineas arriba (british Loterry)..
hay que tener cuidado

TRANSLATION (from site admin Dave Nielsen):
I received an email that said I had won 500,000 pounds; the point is that they want you to send mail so that they can better explain things, and they responded saying that I had to fill out a form and to enclose a copy of my passport,,, happily I found this web site and I realized with the ungrateful surprise that the email I received was exactly like the one which they mention above (british Loterry).

You need to be careful out there...

Houman

Posted 2/27/2006

I'm from Iran and I recieved an email like the one you mentioned in 22 feb 2006. and I also recieved another one today that has a payment form to fill and send them! so I search in google and find your page and find out what is going on!
beware of scams!

sarah

Posted 2/27/2006

i am a u.s. resident and i recieved an email like the one mentioned above. as soon as i read it, i googled it, and came up with this website. the internet is a great tool to have s long as one knows how to use it to thier advantage.

T.M.Eldo

Posted 2/24/2006

am a Singapore resident, and today I got a similar email with a suspicious id originated from Canada stating that by my email id www selection won a lottery and to
give the details of self. Since I had an earlier encounter from another European Country even with banking details etc., and out of curiosity had called the given number
and every time the same person picked up the phone, and finally contacted the bank thru their web address and learnt that it was a scam.

Hence I glance thru the web page and find your web site which makes it clear that this too is a scam as I have never been to Britain and\or taken any lottery tickets.

Feel that this shud be given to the press to avoid wasting time and innocent people getting duped.

Que Hsien Li

Posted 2/20/2006

I received an email that notify me of winning #3 Million Pound Sterling on February 17th,2006.
Out of curiosity and suspicion I opened a new account with $50:only to facilitate for the claim of my wins.
I am planning to inform this sudden lottery win to the Toronto Police and I am waiting the next move from the so call National Lottery,British Lottery HQ in London.
Please advised whether I did the right thing to engaged them by providing my name,address and the new bank account of $50 dollars only.
QH

tiffanie

Posted 2/15/2006

well i was wondering did I win and how can I find out if i won .

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