FIFA warns against 2010 lottery scams

“FIFA continues to be alerted to emails fraudulently claiming to be associated/linked with FIFA, the 2010 FIFA World Cup and/or Local Organising Committee informing recipients that they have been selected as prize winners in a lottery draw and have won substantial sums of money,” said FIFA.

Appear to be official

FIFA issued a statement on Monday, 19 January 2009, warning the public to treat such unscrupulous emails with utmost vigilance as some of these emails appear to be very official and tempting.

“Many of these emails appear to be official and most of them ask recipients to provide their personal details, including bank account information, in order to claim the prize money. FIFA strongly advises the public to treat any emails concerning lottery draws or cash prizes with suspicion and extreme caution,” FIFA said.

Meanwhile, the SA2010 website mailbox has also been inundated with a slew of emails from concerned recipients of such emails from all over the world.

“I received an email informing me that I won in a certain South African Lottery FIFA 2010 World Cup Bid,” said one website user, who wanted to verify the accuracy of the email.

“Please, advise how I can verify and/or confirm my winning email address in South Africa FIFA 2010 lottery because I received several emails from deferent sources. I am not certain of the accuracy of these notifications,” the user wrote.

The scam email apparently claimed the “award” was “sponsored by: Danny Jordan, FIFA President Joseph. S. Blatter and CEO/Chairman of Microsoft, Bill Gates and a consortium of software promotion companies”.

Used as references

The con artist used the Shine 2010 and the South African 2010 Government websites as references in his letter while asking the recipient to furnish personal details. The swindler also left his seemingly credible contact details and “ticket” and “ballot” reference numbers.

FIFA distances itself from these emails and advises the public to ignore such emails and resist the temptation of divulging their personal details. FIFA also urges the public to report such scams with the Consumer Fraud Organisation (www.consumerfraudreporting.org).

“FIFA reiterates that these lotteries have no connection with or authorisation from FIFA and are in no way related to the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa. FIFA urges people not to provide any personal or financial details if requested to do so,” FIFA stated.

How to spot email scams

According to www.consumerfraudreporting.org:

• Email address ballot: there is no such thing as a "computer ballot system" or "computer email draw". No one, not even Microsoft, has a database of email addresses of the type or magnitude they suggest.

• Terrible spelling, punctuation, syntax and grammar: scammers apparently don't know how to use spell checkers. We assume they dropped out of school before that class. They use almost excessive and random CapItaLiZAtion. They often can't even spell "February" or know that "22th" ought to be "22nd".

• These scammers usually write at the third grade level. Being non-native English speakers, they also often get first names and surnames (last names) reversed, so you will frequently see names like "Mr. SMITH JAMES.", instead of "Mr. James Smith", along with the peculiar usage of periods (full stops) and spaces or the lack thereof. Real lotteries also proofread their emails and look and read more professional.

• Using free email account: the scammer is writing to you from a FREE email account (Yahoo, Hotmail, Excite, AIM, Gmail, etc.). Don't you think a real organisation would use its own email, its own domain and website?

• ”Keep Confidential”: real lotteries THRIVE on publicity - they don't want you to keep anything secret - the publicity causes people to buy more tickets. there is NO risk of "double claiming" because they can validate where the ticket numbers were sold.

• The scammer wants you to keep quiet because they don't want the police or ConsumerFraudreporting to hear about them! It should read: "For our own security, you are advised to keep your winning information confidential until we have finished scamming you!"

• Email notification: NO REAL LOTTERY SENDS AN EMAIL TO NOTIFY WINNERS. Period. Full-stop. End of story. There mere fact ALONE that you received an email saying you won a lottery is proof that it is a scam.