Is this a legit lottery? Does anyone know or have gotten same email? How or where does one find out if its a scam or not? Says its promoted and sponsered by Sulten of Brunei, Bill Gates of Microsoft Inc. Says all participants in this lottery have been selected randomly through computer ballot system drawn from over nine companies and 126 individual email addresses from all search engines and websites. Just a scam? Or what? I'm assuming it is. But would like input from more experienced persons, please?
2007-02-20 21:49:43 · 9 answers · asked by timberteri24 1 in Business & Finance ➔ Other - Business & Finance
It is a scam! There is no Overseas Lottery International, YAHOO & MSN Lotteries, Yahoo online dept., UK (United Kingdom) Lottery, Netherlands Lottery, British Lottery, Thunderball Online Lottery in the UK, Australian Lottery, Spanish Lottery, Yahoo Lottery Microsoft Lottery (emmulating from the UK or anywhere else) or any other form of lottery you can win without buying a ticket. While some people might only copy and paste such email to their answer with a brief take on it, I will go into detail because I'm tired of this trash, as several of my friends have lost their a$$es to this scam. This is about as far away from legitimate as anything can get, whether it be a contest, promotion, or whatever.
There exists a certain form of immoral degenerate that trolls the internet searching for suckers who believe that they have gotten very lucky and won a lottery which they have never entered. They will probably entice you to send an advance fee to claim your non-existant winnings and if you do send this money, you can kiss it goodbye. The money will likely be en-route to Nigeria, a cesspool of fraud that has been the center of these types of fraud over the last few decades.
The best thing to do is to delete such emails immediately and to never reply to them. If you even reply, you risk having your email inbox flooded. If you call these people, expect to be harrassed over the phone at all hours of the night! In some cases, people who travel to claim their winnings in Nigeria are taken hostage, and in worse-case scenarios are killed when whoever is paying ransom payments exhausts their money supply. If anything online sounds to good to be true it always is buddy.
By the way, I have kind of become an anti-scam activists due to the fact that I have many friends who have had their identities and life savings stolen from them via these methods.
This is simply advance fee fraud (a prevalent type of fraud which continously asks for money to cover unforseen expenses) and is intended to drain your bank account, promising money that simply does not exist. Hopefully, this answers your question.
If you have any more questions, do a yahoo search on lottery scams, nigeria 419 scams, internet fraud, or advance fee fraud. You can also read more about this at www.secretservice.gov and www.419eater.com!
If you have lost money you should report it to the U.S. Secret Service at www.secretservice.gov
Now you know the basics of Advance Fee Fraud, a multi-million dollar industry that costs honest people their life savings everyday. Be happy you weren't duped by this scam!
I hope this is helpful, because I could sure use a best answer! I would appreciate it!
2007-02-22 02:56:02 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You're quite correct, it is a scam.
A lottery scam is a variant of advance fee fraud (also know as a 419 scam). First, you (and thousands of other people) get a spam message stating that you could get millions of dollars -- in this case, because you won the lottery. If you believe the scammer and reply, he will charge you a fee before your winnings can get to you: this may be for having some documents notarized, or to pay the courier who's bringing your check, or to open a bank account, or international taxes, or any number of made-up excuses.
You can tell these are email lotteries are fake because:
(1) You can't win a lottery if you didn't enter (i.e. buy a ticket)
(2) There is no such thing as a lottery of email addresses.
(3) There is no such thing as an "international lottery", and in fact most countries have laws prohibiting their citizens from entering lotteries in other countries.
(4) If you DO win, you don't need to pay money to get your prize!
2007-02-21 00:35:54 · answer #2 · answered by Matti 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's fake. I worked at a bank as a teller. People would bring these in all the time. Elderly people are especially at risk because they are more trusting and generally have less experience on the internet. I've seen people lose thousands. Rip it up, delete it. There's not much else you can do. They send emails to literally millions of people and are able to get a few people to respond. Don't become that person. If you won money, why would they want you to send them money? Seriously, ask yourself. I'm glad you think your luck is good enough to be included in ten out of 2 million, but sorry. If you have never been to a foreign country, you will never win their lottery.
2016-05-24 01:24:35 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No it is not a legit lottery.
Yes, I get them all the time - and forward them to Spam@uce.gov. They are called "419 scams" or Advance Fee Fraud. If you answer they will try to get you to put up money to "secure" your prize. They hope you will give them a few thousand because you THINK you will get hundreds of thousands or millions in return. There is NO money to be won, only money to be lost - by you to them.
You work too hard to give your money away to these criminals.
Repeat after me, "I can not win a lottery I did not enter... ".
2007-02-20 22:02:00 · answer #4 · answered by lexy 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
do you remember entering the lottery? NO?
do you have a ticket for this lottery? NO>
if you said no to both question that means its a scam
they are trying get money from you~ and you will
not see a dime of your "winnings"
2007-02-21 13:42:57 · answer #5 · answered by mobilemark 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
As reported by both the FBI and IRS......
It is illegal for any American citizen to enter, win, participate or be a part of any overseas lottery.
You cannot be a winner because you cant be legally entered.
2007-02-20 22:17:56 · answer #6 · answered by mslider2 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋
http://www.fraudwatchinternational.com/known-scam-operatives/
2007-02-20 22:11:51 · answer #7 · answered by craig 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Generally if you didnt enter it... then you didnt win it.
2007-02-20 21:58:08 · answer #8 · answered by Mark V 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
its a scam
2007-02-20 21:58:36 · answer #9 · answered by GEOSYNC 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋