Winning Lottery Emails And SMS's Are Always Scams!

Emails and SMS's Saying You Won a Lottery Are Always Scams!
There is no exceptions! Never

1. Real lotteries never notify people by email like this. Never.
2. If you didn't buy a ticket you can never win a lottery. Never.
3. There is no such thing as a lottery based on the selection of emails! Never.
4. No real lottery would ever use a free email address!  Never. 
Read Email Addresses Scammers Use

5. No real lottery would ever use a UK forwarding number! Never.
Rqead Telephone Numbers Scammers Use

6. No real lottery would ever require you to send any money, especially by wire! Never

7. No real lottery would ever send you a check to cash and then request that you pay fees. Never Read: Never Wire Money to Strangers and http://www.fakechecks.org

Assuming that you actually get here to this part, here's some reasons that the lottery scam is fake, aside from the fact that it's ALWAYS a scam.

If you have read about how to identify a scam email (which is here) then in addition to things like bad grammar, poor spelling, even poorer punctuation, the use of free email servers, etc. these are some other things that make a lottery scam format completely bogus.

I just won a lottery!
No you didn't. You just got a scam email. 

1. Real lotteries never notify people by email like this. Never.
But maybe...no, not maybe. It is a scam. It is never real.

What if...? No, sorry it's a scam.

It could be....it is a scam. You are not a winner.
Just to repeat, real lotteries never notify people by email. What you have is a scam email and the best thing to do with it is to delete it and forget it.

2. If you didn't buy a ticket you can never win a lottery.
Hopefully it would go without saying but sometimes people do need to be reminded of this. It's just that simple. You buy a ticket, you can win. No ticket, no win. Lotteries make money by selling tickets. They do not make money giving money away. They have to sell tickets.

3. "No tickets were sold"
This is a cute little fiction that scammers have cooked up to explain why you can win without buying a ticket (see #2). If they didn't sell tickets then it isn't a real lottery.

4. I won the Microsoft lottery.
Sorry, you didn't. Microsoft doesn't have a lottery. Most of the lotteries listed in this forum are not real lotteries. A few of them are but if you didn't buy a ticket, you can't win. 

5. I won the Australian lottery but my claims agent is in Nigeria.
Think about that one for a minute. Take a look at a map. See Australia? See Nigeria? Why would Australians hire people in Nigeria to be paying agents for their lottery? It's not logical and it makes no sense economically. Your "paying agent" in Nigeria is actually just a criminal/scammer.

This goes for any other country with a lottery in one country but the paying agent in another. If they tell you that, it's just a scam email. Best to delete it and forget it.

6. Your lottery winnings are covered by a "high insurance policy".
Cute, but entirely fictitious. This is a little device the scammers have created (in their own mind) to explain why they can't deduct the fees from all that lottery money you won. There is no such thing as a "high insurance policy". The reason they cant, or won't deduct the fees from the winnings is because there are no winnings. (See # 1-3 above).

Reproduced from: http://antifraudintl.org/showthread.php ... lways-fake
Keep in mind many fake lottery scams use free email address Read: Email Addresses Scammers Use and telephone numbers that begin with +44 70, 870, 871, 844 and 845 which are always scams. Read: Telephone Numbers Scammers Use

Winning Lottery Emails And SMS's Are Always Scams!
Introduction

Fake Lotteries and Sweepstakes are part of the Advance Fee Fraud toolkit, and widely used to scam millions of people worldwide. Unlike the general Advance Fee Frauds, this one deserves special attention because it is hugely popular and highly effective.

How many times I have seen questions like: "I have been notified I have won a Lottery I never entered, is this a scam?". Oddly, this is actually called a Rhetorical question because it contains the answer within the question itself. Here is the simple version for people that do not understand what I mean:-

If you never purchased a ticket, you can never win..

The answer given is usually ignored by the person asking, simply because they refuse to use common-sense and logical thinking. However let me reiterate the point being made in a wordy way so that the 'Doubting Thomas' screaming inside your head shuts up.

Facts
Be In It, To Win It

You cannot win a lottery or sweepstake without actually purchasing a ticket or other entry token. It does not matter one iota that the email you have recieved states "your email was randomly selected", because it is complete rubbish. Likewise, any excuses such as "Sponsored by [insert major company]" is equally false. Major companies may support a real lottery, but they do not provide the millions in winning funds... that is NOT how lotteries and sweepstakes operate.

Lotteries and Sweepstakes are commercially oriented, and they have to make money. The ONLY way they make money is by selling tickets to the public... ie: YOU.

The old saying "There is no such thing as a free lunch" fits quite well here.

Foreign Lottos Banned

In some countries, foreign lotteries are outlawed and you would not be allowed to accept any winnings anyway (if it were a real lottery). This is worth noting, though really only a minor point when dealing with these types of frauds.

Types

There are two main types of Lottery and Sweepstake scams, which may be transmitted by email, sms or postal mail.

Advance Fee

In the case of the Advance Fee scam, you would be asked for personal information, possibly a scan of your passport or drivers license. You may also be asked for your banking details too. This seemingly insignificant data can lead to Identity Theft. However, once getting through that stage, you will be asked to pay a fee, usually via Western Union/MoneyGram. Read: Never Wire Money to Strangers 

The fee may be for taxes, clearance, insurance... whatever. THAT is the scam, and if you pay, you loose.

Fake Cheque

The alternate Fake Cheque scam is very similar to an Overpayment Scam. Here you are issued a plausible looking cheque as "an advance of the winings" or similar excuse. You are told to cash the cheque and to forward a part of the monies somewhere else, again for taxes etc.

In this type of scam, the cheque is really a counterfeit. The proceeds of the cheque will be added to your bank account as you expect. Having sent the requested amount, usually via Western Union or MoneyGram, you sit and await your winnings.

Unfortunately all you are really waiting for is the bank to discover that the cheque is a counterfeit. At that point, the proceeds from the cheque are removed from your bank account and you are investigated for bank fraud. Depending on what country you live in, you may also be liable for immediate arrest and prosecution. Moreover, the bit that you sent to the scammers has to be repaid by you to the bank. Read: http://www.fakechecks.org

Generally the Advance Fee type is restricted to email or sms and the Fake Cheque type to postal mail. In the case of a Postal Scam, you should take the letter and cheque to your local police and make a report. You will help the authorities gather more evidence to catch those responsible.

Summary

Hopefully this serves as enough information to provide clarity to the question raised. Take away the big company names, excuses and theories and you are left only with a common scam that fools many people worldwide. Don't be a lemon, keep your wallets and purses in the closed position. Having read this article, you should never need to ask that question again, because the answer will be YES, IT'S A SCAM!

Keep in mind many fake lottery scams use free email address and telephone numbers that begin with +44 70, 870, 871, 844 and 845 which are always scams. Read Telephone Numbers Scammers Use and Scam Email Addresses