Camelot warning over bogus lottery email

Oct 12 2008 by Mr Justice, Sunday Sun

Camelot’s guide on how to spot a scam

We alerted Camelot to our story. And this is what they had to say.

A spokesman said: “We’re very proactive in this area in terms of warning people of the type of scams that are out there.

“We’d urge anyone to check out our website for further advice on how to spot a scam – and report it to the relevant authorities.

Camelot’s advice is

To be eligible to win a prize on The UK National Lottery players must have placed an initial stake, either at a retailer or have registered to play at www.national-lottery.co.uk.  Additionally, Camelot has strict procedures, as agreed with our regulator the National Lottery Commission, for informing players by email who have won a prize on The UK National Lottery through playing via the new media channels.

We are aware that there are many organisations that attempt to obtain payment or personal details electronically from people under a variety of pretexts. The National Lottery and indeed other lotteries are sometimes falsely used as part of these scams. We believe that some of these organisations are based overseas, often targeting people resident abroad.

If any individual believes they are a victim of crime they should contact their local police.

Our own website www.national-lottery.co.uk provides security advice in respect of lottery ‘scams’ (set out below).                                          

Fraudulent (Scam) Emails – what to do first

Lottery scam (fraudulent) emails are increasing at an alarming rate.

Scam emails try to persuade the email receiver to submit personal information or to part with money as an up-front payment in order to release a winning lottery prize.

As a general rule, if you have not purchased a ticket for the UK National Lottery, you won’t have won a prize, and you should treat the email with absolute caution.

Fraudulent (Scam) Emails – what to do first

Lottery scam (fraudulent) emails are increasing at an alarming rate.

Scam emails try to persuade the email receiver to submit personal information or to part with money as an up-front payment in order to release a winning lottery prize.

As a general rule, if you have not purchased a ticket for the UK National Lottery, you won’t have won a prize, and you should treat the email with absolute caution.

The following points are some things to look for in order to identify a fraudulent email:

• We don’t advise that a Player has won a prize on an email. If the email says ‘Winning Notification’ or ‘Lottery Sweep Stake’ in the text, the email you’ve received is not from UK National Lottery.

• We don’t put winning numbers or winning dates on an email

• We don’t advise of a winning amount on an email

• We don’t ask for any Player information like name, address or bank details on an email

There is no need to contact us if you have received a lottery-related scam (fraudulent) email.

Common Lottery Scams – further assistance:

The National Lottery website is safe and secure. Nevertheless, you need to be on your guard against Internet fraudsters. Below are details of some of the more common fraudulent activities:

Email scams that claim you have won a Lottery prize

These scams work in two ways:

Method 1: Persuade the victim to part with personal information to allow the scammers to carry out Identity Theft.

Method 2: Persuade the victim to part with money as an up front payment in order to release a winning Lottery prize which does not exist.

Signs of a fraudulent email:

• There may be a sense of urgency, e.g. 'respond within X days or your Account will be closed'

• There may be embedded links (links within the body of the email) that look legitimate because they contain all or part of a real company's name. These links may take you to spoof sites which ask you to update personal information, or may download key-logging software onto your PC

• Spoof websites can be difficult to spot. To make sure you're on our site, type www.national-lottery.co.uk into your browser and see if you arrive at the same place

Spoof websites (known as 'phishing')

Fraudsters create false or 'spoof' websites that look very real, with the aim of persuading users to enter personal information such as passwords and memorable information. They will then re-use this information to access your Account. Customers get emails claiming to be from official websites asking them to click on a link within the email to the 'spoof' site.

The National Lottery would never ask you to email us with confidential information.

In order to protect yourself from such scams, we advise the following:

• Don't click on links in unsolicited emails

• Never send any up-front fees required in order to 'claim your prize'

• Never disclose personal information or financial information via email or a 'claims' or 'verification' form

• If you wish to visit a particular website, always key in the address directly rather than using an embedded link

• Always remember, where you wish to discuss your Account with us, we will always verify your identity by asking specific security questions disclosed to us when you set up your Account. Our Interactive Customer Care team do not have access to your full password

Remember, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is!

For details of other websites that carry useful information on Internet security and current scams, see our useful websites page.