Lottery scams are on the increase, so be warned.

Also, the scammers’ attempts to part you from your money are becoming more sophisticated, so you have to be doubly on your guard.

Up until now, the bogus lottery email scams have been quite straightforward, relying on the fact that people who receive an email saying they’ve won millions, mainly in an overseas lottery, will be blinded by joy and readily send a release fee.

But, when the U.K. lottery began sending emails to people who have legitimately won, the email scammer has seen his chance to get the con to work. Thus, they are now much more sophisticated in tone and content. It is worth noting that emails informing you of a win have now been officially stopped, so as to avoid giving the scammers a chance.

Firstly, the scammer builds a quite convincing email, using lots of official logos and graphics, plus the official address of the lottery company. Then they use accurate information from one of the draws and also, throw-in official looking words to try and convince the reader that it must be genuine.

And they won’t ask for the administration, or release fee straight away, more than likely they will try and hook you with innocent sounding requests at first, such as can you verify your name, address and, horribly, your bank account details. Once you’re on the hook, they will try and reel you in. And then comes the request for money.

But, before you do anything, take a step back. Think clearly and be questioning.

To start with, the only legal U.K. national lottery is run by Camelot and their web-site is www.national-lottery.co.uk. You can play online, or buy tickets in a shop with an official lottery terminal. If you have an email pretending to be from Camelot, have a close look at the address. If it looks odd at all – either from a free web-hosting service, or with a number of letters and numbers surrounding the official looking words – reject it. Camelot have a recognised email address. So if in doubt, bin it.

Look at the draw details in the email. Most scammers use draws from a few weeks in the past, so why would Camelot send you an email with out-of-date information.

And as said above, emails notifying people of wins are no longer issued, so any email saying different is bogus: simple.

But if you’re still unsure, why would an official lottery expect you to pay an administration fee to receive your prize? And why would they ask you not to tell anyone else, which is usually what they say in the email – what is their motive for saying that, unless they don’t want you to alert anyone that you’re about to be conned.

So, if you get an email saying you’ve won the lottery, the best thing you can do is bin it straight away. Don’t, whatever you do, reply, as you’ll end up with the booby prize.

Tags: Anti Virus, Camelot, Fraud, Lottery Scams, Mcafee, Scammers, Scams, Spam