Is the UK National Lottery sweepstakes legitimate?

Can you say spam boys and girls?

Is the UK National Lottery sweepstakes legitimate?
heck no! Scam!!








NEVER send money, or give credit card or online account details to anyone you do not know and trust.





Never send money to anyone that you are not totally sure about.


Do not send any money or pay any fee to claim a prize or lottery winnings.








The Attorney General’s office offers these tips to help consumers avoid being victimized by this scam:





Never send money in response to this sort of solicitation. There is no reason to believe you have won money in a contest that you have not entered and you should not have to pay any fees to collect a legitimate prize.


Always verify the credentials of someone who claims to be a government official. If the person calling you is legitimate, his or her telephone number can be obtained from directory assistance. Ask them to put the information or request in writing and send it to you so you can check it out.


Avoid entering any unsolicited sweepstakes or lotteries, particularly those originating from Canada or another country. These "entries" are often used to target victims.


Don’t be fooled into believing that using Western Union to send money protects you. Funds sent via Western Union can be picked up at any office, not just the one to which you send your money.


Remember that you don’t have to buy anything or pay money to enter a sweepstakes and buying will never improve your chances of winning a sweepstakes.
Reply:well not really
Reply:No, not at all.





The UK National Lottery is a completely legitimate company running the UK lottery under contract from the government. They sell tickets for one British Pound and have prizes of up to $50,000,000 or so. The only way you can win is to play and select the right numbers that get drawn. The odds of doing that on the main draw is about 14,000,000-1.





The most obvious reason why this is a scam is because there is no point to it whatsoever. Why would a legitimate lottery company set up a sweepstakes and simply give away huge prizes to random people in a foreign country who never purchased a ticket?





Currently here in the US the Powerball jackpot has reached $205m. Can you imagine the national outcry if we were told one day that some or all of that money had been simply given away to some random guy in India, and another in Mexico?





No legitimate lottery is ever going to start giving random amounts of money away to random people who have never purchased a ticket.





For more information on UK Lottery scams, see the link.
Reply:Best Answer - Chosen by Asker





Look at the questions I have answered on this site in my info. There are so many winners there could not be enough money to pay them all.There is no International Lottery.This is a Nigeria scam. Yahoo/MSN, U.K. and Australian lotteries, football lotteries from the same counties, Global-Link, World Poverty, Microsoft, Free Lotto, which now seems to have it's own people answering gambling questions on this site claiming they have won which is a total lie, and hundreds more. I am a retired Police Officer that has years of experience investigating Internet scams and frauds. This is an old one. The common link to them getting your email is on line surveys. Yahoo does not give it's stock holders money away nor does it give it's email subscribers address's to lotteries. The only way to win in a lottery is to buy a ticket, if you didn't you could not possibly win. Here is the website of the 17 nation law enforcement task force that investigates cross border Internet crime. You may file a complaint there. www.econsumer.gov. Also go to www.ripoffreport.com and browse complaints and you will find many having the same doubts as yourself about these scams. Below is a typical scam and how they work it. They just go under a thousand different names. They are asking you to send a prepayment to collect your winnings and they want you to send it by a money wire service. Lotteries do not just pick your name out of thin air, and just so happen to have your email also. No Internet service provider gives their email list out to lotteries. If you did not pay to play you could not possibly win.





recieved letter of winning $65000.00 Pacific Player International lotteries,please contact claims agent miss linda strong at 204-951-7582. Second letter came with a check for the amount of $2,470.00 To deposited in my bank account for processing fee,a week later check cleared my bank. I contacted my claims agent over the phone she advise me to wire the balance of $2,341.00 to a Mr Edward Culwell in New York,New York.I called miss linda strong to advise her of the western union confirmation number,to date can not get in touch with linda strong just her voice mail, I know now that it was all a RIP-OFF and now Iam in the hole with $2,470.00 with my bank.... Please send HELP... THANK YOU VERY MUCH
Reply:NO they are not they are a scam to get your details and your money beware
Reply:Nope.