is there a lottery scam on the internet harvey [e-mail] wants me to pay money as i am a winner?

Question

Tom Brown of [e-mail] informed me that i was one of 17 internet winners to have won a lottery purse of 1.3million pounds in order to collect i had to contact Barrister harvey naylor at telephone no 00447024036118 after speaking to him he said i must email my details wich i did. he replied by saying he must secure a clearance document from the goverment offices in London. 1>sworn affidavit(sealed by the british high court) .2> British foreign remittance permit. the above listed documents will cost 2.455 thousand british pounds an was payable immediately to secure, plus another 2.800pounds for services rendered.I would like to no if this could be legal or am I being taken for a ride

Answer 1

Look at the questions I have answered on this site in my info. There are so many winners there could not be enough money to pay them all.There is no International Lottery.This is a Nigeria scam. Yahoo/MSN, U.K. and Australian lotteries, football lotteries from the same counties, Global-Link, World Poverty, Microsoft, Free Lotto, which now seems to have it's own people answering gambling questions on this site claiming they have won which is a total lie, and hundreds more. I am a retired Police Officer that has years of experience investigating Internet scams and frauds. This is an old one. The common link to them getting your email is on line surveys. Yahoo does not give it's stock holders money away nor does it give it's email subscribers address's to lotteries. The only way to win in a lottery is to buy a ticket, if you didn't you could not possibly win. Here is the website of the 17 nation law enforcement task force that investigates cross border Internet crime. You may file a complaint there. www.econsumer.gov. Also go to www.ripoffreport.com and browse complaints and you will find many having the same doubts as yourself about these scams. Below is a typical scam and how they work it. They just go under a thousand different names. They are asking you to send a prepayment to collect your winnings and they want you to send it by a money wire service. Lotteries do not just pick your name out of thin air, and just so happen to have your email also. No Internet service provider gives their email list out to lotteries. If you did not pay to play you could not possibly win.

recieved letter of winning $65000.00 Pacific Player International lotteries,please contact claims agent miss linda strong at 204-951-7582. Second letter came with a check for the amount of $2,470.00 To deposited in my bank account for processing fee,a week later check cleared my bank. I contacted my claims agent over the phone she advise me to wire the balance of $2,341.00 to a Mr Edward Culwell in New York,New York.I called miss linda strong to advise her of the western union confirmation number,to date can not get in touch with linda strong just her voice mail, I know now that it was all a RIP-OFF and now Iam in the hole with $2,470.00 with my bank.... Please send HELP... THANK YOU VERY MUCH

Answer 2

These scams often originate in West Africa and there is little you can do as they use free email accounts, fake names and even identify themselves using passport details from other innocent victims. If she has provided any personal information such as bank details, change those account numbers immediately. If she has provided any of her passport details, contact the passport office. It is not uncommon for the passport details of innocent victims to be used to scam others. The fact that she has responded means that she will almost certainly have been put on a mugs list. These scammers send out thousands of these emails and they don't know if they are real email addresses or not. If any respond, even to tell them to "go to hell", the details will be sold on to others. Your mother can nw expect a deluge of these scams: fake inheritance scams, fake jobs, etc. The best thing to do would be to change her email address and only give the new one out to those she trusts. She should now also be careful as it is common for the same people to try again in another guise, often posing as a bank or government body, offering to reclaim or compensate her for her losses - if only she sends them a small fee, etc, etc. BTW we could all do our bit by not forwarding emails from friends with long lists of email addresses. This is a goldmine to scammers as they know they have real email accounts to target. Before you forward any emails that have been forwarded through several groups of friends, remove all the email addresses and bcc onwards. EDIT The phone thing is the same. They text at random hoping that they will hit valid mobile phone numbers along the way. Change her mobile phone number. These people are hard bitten criminals and know exactly when they have a vulnerable mark and how to hound them into submission. As for those who can laugh at the naivety, I bet you you can be scammed too. There are thousands of scams out there and while you may not think that you would fall prey to this one, there are many scams out there that would catch you. This is a lady who is not well versed in the scum that prey on people through the internet and mobile phones. She probably grew up in age where to have a phone in your own home was a luxury. Don't criticise what you don't understand. It could be your mum or dad just as easily. You could try contacting her mobile phone provider and speaking to a manager. See if there is anything they can do to help in tracing the calls. They will probably only work with the police to do this but it's worth a try.

Answer 3

I have heard about a london scam and an africa scam. be careful. ironically i also happened to see an actual case on judge judy when a girl knew it was a scam and participated while her sister did not. she sent the money over there. ps. lbs are much cheaper than us dollars. check the conversion b/c you will probably be sending over more than you think. anyway she sent the money and never got anything in return. besides that i just got an email from the uk national lottery saying i've won. now they need my personal information. why do they need it if they located me without my never having played in the first place. its definately a scam.

Answer 4

Of course it is a scam. You get an unsolicited email from an unknown source, and you have to ask this?

There is only one way to win the lottery; buy a ticket from the newsagent, if your numbers come up, phone Camelot or whoever is running it.

When you say you emailed your details, I hope that did not include your bank account or other personal stuff. If you did, contact your bank and tell them, hopefully they may prevent money being extracted from your account.

Answer 5

Tom Brown probably does not even exist this is most defiantly a scam do not give him any of your details or you will be ripped off.they are very clever convincing you how genuine they are but they are after your money and card details next time tell him to go to hell.

Answer 6

Scam. Anytime someone wants money to give you money it is a scam. Never even open up an email like this unless you recognize the contest from one you entered.

Answer 7

In these days of scams and identity theft, I can't really believe you don't know this. Really people, how do you win a contest that you never entered? And business is always conducted in person at legitimate places. I think only common sense applies.

Answer 8

Yahoo doesn't run a lottery. They are all scams. If you haven't bought a ticket, you haven't won anything. If you've already sent off your details, you better watch your account closely.

Answer 9

dude, to win a lottery, you have to enter it in the first place. you pay your stake before you play - lottery by definition is a gamble. you never pay money to get your winnings. Of course it's a scam.

Answer 10

TOTAL SCAM! What kind of details did you give them? Hopefully not your bank accounts or personal info....they'll rob you blind, and steal your identity.