Has anyone else been selected winner of National Yahoo Lottery?

Question

Got an official-looking email from London about being one of five selected monthly to win lottery, randomly selected by computer for online email lottery. Now, of course, they want some information for a transfer, though they do not even say what has been won.

Sounds like a new kind of scam to me, and thought I would see if anyone else has been selected this month for the same.

Answer 1

Scam.  I called Yahoo in Sunnyvale, California about that because I was getting what looked like official Yahoo mail on the subject.  It is a scam.

Answer 2

The e-mail that you received is a scam. The lottery that you supposedly won is just a con that a scammer is using to get you to send him money. This whole thing seems too good to be true because it IS too good to be true.

Fake lottery scams are very simple. The scammer finds your e-mail address somewhere on the Internet and adds it to the mass-mailing list. He bombards hundreds, if not thousands, of e-mail addresses with the lottery e-mail.

Anybody who replies is being scammed. The con artist will soon ask the victim to wire money for "fees." There might be a courier fee to have the lottery check delivered, for example. Or maybe the victim is supposed to send money to cover taxes or insurance.

After the victim sends the first payment, the scammer will return with another excuse. The victim will continue sending money until he or she is either broke, or realizes that the whole thing is a scam. Either way, the money that was sent to the bad guy is gone - and the victim never sees so much as a hint of the prize money.

To confirm that the e-mail you have is a scam, do one or more of the following:

Copy part of the original e-mail and paste it into a search engine. Anti-scam sites archive and publish known scam e-mails in an effort to help potential victims before they fall for the scams.

If you received an e-mail that claims to be from a company like Yahoo!, MSN, AOL, Toyota, et cetera, open a fresh browser window and manually enter that company's official Web site address. The company will have, at the most, a fraud warning. But you will not find advertising about the company's so-called lottery. This is because these companies do not have lotteries.

When you receive e-mails that claim to be from real lotteries (like the UK Lottery), go visit the official Web site. There is usually an anti-fraud warning present. Real lottery commissions do not have your e-mail address. How can they notify you that you won if you didn't give them this information? And if you never bought a ticket for that lottery, then how can you win? You cannot, because lottery commissions do not give away tickets for free. If they did, then they would quickly run out of money for the prize pool.

If you still aren't sure, you should contact your local police department. Many departments are aware of these scams, and will tell you that the person who sent you this e-mail is a con artist who is simply trying to take your money.

The best thing to do when you receive one of these e-mails is to simply delete it and move on. Reporting the user to the provider to have the e-mail account closed can interfere with an active law-enforcement investigation.

You can also warn people you know about these scams. The more people we all tell, the fewer potential victims these low-life scammers will have.

http://www.scamwarners.com is an excellent Web site for more information about fake lottery scams and other, similar cons.

Answer 3

It is a scam. Check it out on www.snopes.com. Never send information about your bank records or soc. sec. to anyone.

Answer 4

I hope you don't believe that...

Answer 5

ALL SCAMS BEWARE

Answer 6

scam dude. get one every other month.

Answer 7

I am one of the selected winner of the said National Yahoo Lottery for this month.  Well, they've already directed me to their legal department, to be able to prepare for an affidavit of claims and drug/terrorism certificate.  Sounds true to be good.

Answer 8

There is no national yahoo lottery.  You receive an unsolicited email, which states that you have won a major prize in an international lottery. Supposedly, your email address was collected online and attached to a random number that was subsequently entered in a draw for the lottery. In order to claim your prize, you are instructed to contact the official "agent" in charge of your case. You are also advised to keep the win confidential for "security reasons". This part of the scam is basically a random phishing expedition. If you respond in any way to the email, the scammers will send further messages or even contact you by phone in an attempt to draw you deeper into the scam.

You may be asked to provide banking details, a large amount of personal information, and copies of your driver's license and passport. Ostensibly, these requests are to prove your identity and facilitate the transfer of your winnings. However, if you comply with these requests, the scammers will have enough information to steal your identity.

Sooner or later, the scammers will request some sort of advance fee supposedly to cover administration, legal or delivery costs. At its core, this scam is just a reworking of the Nigerian loan fraud, in which scammers also eventually ask for upfront fees to facilitate the "deal". Like Nigerian scams, victims who do actually pay the requested fees will probably find that they receive continuing payment demands to cover "unexpected expenses". The requests for money will go on until the victim realizes what is happening or has no further money to send.

In some cases, the scammers give victims the option of opening an account at a particular bank as an alternative to paying upfront fees. However, this "bank" which is completely bogus, will insist on an initial deposit of $3000 as a requirement for opening the account. The fake bank will have a legitimate looking website to reinforce the scam. In other cases, the victim is given the option of travelling to an overseas destination and paying a cash fee to facilitate the release of the funds. However, any "winnings" released to the victim will be counterfeit and therefore worthless.

The details of the lottery scams vary regularly with regard to the name of the lottery itself, the country of origin, the sponsoring organization, the amount of the "prize" and other particulars. The scammers try to add a patina of legitimacy to their claims by mentioning real financial institutions, government departments or well-known companies. They may also provide links to slick looking, but fraudulent websites that are designed to back up information included in the scam emails. If the scammers are successful in establishing a dialogue with a potential victim, they may provide "proof" such as a scanned image of a supposed government official's ID and even photographs of the "winnings" in cash.

Complete list of SCAM e-mail addresses.

http://www.419baiter.com/_scam_emails/sc...

Answer 9

Absolutely a scam!  First of all, I'm sure you'd remember entering this lottery, right?  Plus, it's just another phishing opportunity (of which there are many different kinds) that just try to obtain your personal banking or credit card information.  A matter of fact, I would recommend not even putting your bank account info online even at PayPal.  I was burned on a fraudulent transaction through them and thought they were reputable like everyone else does.  Always be very, very careful to never give that information out.

Blessings,

Angela

P.S.  I entered to win $5000 a week for life from Publisher's Clearing House (very reputable & definitely deliver the prizes).  You should, too!  Remember, someone IS going to win.

http://www.mb01.com/lnk.asp?o=1081&c=142...