A scam in my mailbox!

[Xena]

Date: Sat, 2 Aug 2008 07:38:47 +0200
> From: results@nat-elot.co.uk
> Subject: **Notification Letter**
>
>
>
>
> UK National Lotto,
> Tolpits Lane, Watford, Herts WD18 9RN,
> United Kingdom.
>
> Congratulations,
>
> Your email won(Cash Prize 715,000 GBP) on our online draw dated, 1st August, 2008 in London, United Kingdom.
>
> To file for claims, contact our claims agent: Adam Boulton.
>
> Note: You are required to provide your Full Name, Full Address, Telephone Number, Occupation, Sex, Age & Country Of Residence to the claims agent via email(adam.boulton@nat-elot.co.uk) or fax(+44 700 6096 896).
>
> Best wishes.
>
> Prof. Anette Bowik.
> Online Coordinator.



Got this in my email, marked it as unsafe! Pretty ****ed off they have got my email address - like to know where from.

[Emerald]

Re: A scam in my mailbox!

Is it your correct e-mail address, or something very similar that has dropped in your inbox?

[ODC]

Re: A scam in my mailbox!

Is it your correct e-mail address, or something very similar that has dropped in your inbox?

It would have to be the OPs correct email or else the message would not have appeared in their inbox. These scammers get peoples email addresses from loads of sources. The OP was probably only one of thousands of people who would have received this email,

[scottishlass]

Re: A scam in my mailbox!

Hi Zena,

I have had one like that too just a few weeks ago, what annoyed me was the fact I hadn't won any money

[Jester]

Re: A scam in my mailbox!

There are so many mailbots/webcrawlers out there that could have creamed your email address. As a rule, if you don't want spam or scam emails in your inbox, then don't post your address anywhere publicly on websites - and that includes guestbooks.

Another big source of Spam is entering online competitions. They are not supposed to sell your details on, but quite a few companies obviously do. The problem is in knowing which company did sell your details as I believe that if you can prove a company has done this there is some law that allows you to sue them.

However, as with anything, check the T&C's of anything you have given your email addy too as they will invariably have a clause somewhere to cover their asses.

[Emerald]

Re: A scam in my mailbox!

It would have to be the OPs correct email or else the message would not have appeared in their inbox. These scammers get peoples email addresses from loads of sources. The OP was probably only one of thousands of people who would have received this email,

I have loads of Spam/Scams sent to e-mails similar to mine that end up in my inbox (or junk) daily. I have no idea how they get there.

[ODC]

Re: A scam in my mailbox!

These guys buy lists of peoples emails and do a mass mail to thousands of people. It costs nothing and if they can sucker even one or two people then they can make large sums of money. Remember if something looks to good to be true then its usually a con.

[bloomingflower]

Re: A scam in my mailbox!

Date: Sat, 2 Aug 2008 07:38:47 +0200
> From: results@nat-elot.co.uk
> Subject: **Notification Letter**
>
>
>
>
> UK National Lotto,
> Tolpits Lane, Watford, Herts WD18 9RN,
> United Kingdom.
>
> Congratulations,
>
> Your email won(Cash Prize 715,000 GBP) on our online draw dated, 1st August, 2008 in London, United Kingdom.
>
> To file for claims, contact our claims agent: Adam Boulton.




>
> Note: You are required to provide your Full Name, Full Address, Telephone Number, Occupation, Sex, Age & Country Of Residence to the claims agent via email(adam.boulton@nat-elot.co.uk) or fax(+44 700 6096 896).
>
> Best wishes.
>
> Prof. Anette Bowik.
> Online Coordinator.



Got this in my email, marked it as unsafe! Pretty ****ed off they have got my email address - like to know where from.

Hi Xena !

I get at least 5 to 10 of these so called 'Online Lotto Prize Draw' notifications per day. Many weeks ago I only received about 1 or 2, now, my inbox is besieged with so many.. its not even funny anymore. We all know by now that all these people are after is your personal details.. name.. address.. bank details etc etc...so these crooks can nick your identity..


I got so annoyed a few days ago while checking my emails.. I decided to reply back with an email, which is something that I most probably would never dream of doing before. This or these people had obviously also caught me on a bad day and I was in 'attack' mode lmao...but rather using bad language or cursing and swearing at them, as I knew I had to be careful, and didn't know what kind of people I may be
dealing with (in the underworld maybe??? you just never know ! ) So I kept the email very civil , but to the point lol


So......my email went like this.....


Please may I ask you that you do not send me anymore emails of this kind.. as I have been doing a lot of research over the last few months and have taken legal advice about this matter. I have had many emails like this one which claim to state that monies have been won...I receive at least 10+ emails a day. I will not be disclosing to you any personal details of any kind now or in the future,and do not need to verify anything to you, as it seems these emails are declared as bogus..


I sent this email to a few of those 'notifications' and used it as a 'template' as it were.. cos after all.. their emails are all identical too !! and bearing in mind there are a hell of a lot of different addresses where these emails come from !

Needless to say... I suddenly stopped getting emails from one particular address and am just now waiting to see if the others follow suit !

If anyone else has been having same problem.. give this email a try..


Bf xx

[Paule]

Re: A scam in my mailbox!

Needless to say... I suddenly stopped getting emails from one particular address and am just now waiting to see if the others follow suit !

Unfortunatly you have just confirmed that it is a valid email address.
This will probably increase the amount of scam mails you get in the future

I would not advise anyone to reply or even open these type of emails

The best thing is to just delete them and not open them

have a read here How Did They Get My E-mail Address? - Legal Beagles

Responding to Commercial Spam
This is perhaps one of the most overlooked ways of loosing your e-mail address. Clicking on that strange link in a spammy e-mail, filling out that mortgage application form or un-subscribing to something you never signed up for, will most certainly get you on a spammer's list. Why am I saying this? Ever saw one of those spam e-mails sent to several recipients, but each e-mail address starts with more or less the same characters and it is only the last couple of characters or digits of each e-mail address that's different? It is a primitive technique similar to the one we used to made prank calls when we were kids. You dial a random number, do the prank and hang up. Then you only increment the last digit of the previous number until you find another number that's working and do the prank again. When the last digit reaches zero, you start incrementing the second last digit and when the second last digit reaches zero, you move on the third last digit, repeating the process until you're tired of making prank calls.
It's really a shot in the dark and your e-mail address is not really on a spammer's list, it is merely on a sample list generated by a computer program. Each e-mail address on the sample list needs to be confirmed before adding it to a priority spam list. Clicking on a link in a spam e-mail will give an indication to the spammer that your e-mail address is active and that you are responding to his or her e-mails. This makes you a much more promising target in the eyes of a spammer. So whatever you do, don't click on any links or follow any instructions given to you in a spam e-mail, unless you enjoy receiving spam.

PKea