Myles Munroe

does YAHOO have a lottery, i.e Yahoo Lottery International Inc.?

I received this email from "Ms Carol Smith" stating that i had won $500,000.00 complete with batch # Lotto # and winning # with the attached address: YAHOO LOTTERY INTL INC, Barley House, Harold Road SM1 4TE, Sutton, Greater London. Lady Ms Carol Smith, Coordinator. Also, stating that I should contact Dr. Myles Munroe at munroemy1@yahoo.co.uk with much personal information, everything but SSN#. 7 days from date of Draw Notification after the Draw date

Lotteries serve one of two purposes:

* To raise money
* To provide publicity in order to draw in customers

The kind of ficticious lotteries cooked up by 419 scammers do neither. People who never bought a ticket and never filled in a form with their name and address are told they won millions. If this was a real lottery, what's in it for the organizer?

If a total stranger promises you millions of dollars or euros out of the blue, it's probably a fraud. Consider these points:

* Have you ever heard of the company? Do a Google search for the name of the claims agent or lottery company. In most cases you will find many fraudulent mails that people have received and published to warn others.
* Even if the name of the lottery doesn't come up, search for a few phrases. Most lottery scams use recycled texts. In many cases even the "winning numbers" stay the same for draws on different dates.
* What email address did this arrive from? Is it a webmail service like netscape.net, tiscali.co.uk, tiscali.fr, atlas.cz, winning.com, zwallet.com, etc.? Real companies generally have their own corporate domains and real websites.
* What email address was it addressed to? In many fraud mail cases, the recipient address is suppressed ("None") or it matches the sender address or a close variation thereof.
* Email is too unreliable to notify prize winners. Real lotteries don't use email to notify winners. Either they have to come forward on their own or they are notified by registered mail.
* Do the spelling and grammar in the mail you received look like legitimate business mail?
* Does the email give a postal address and phone number for the lottery company, or if you are told to contact a handling agent, for the agent?
* Does the email mention a "mix up of some numbers and names" and ask you to "keep your Winning information confidential until your claims have been processed"?
* Are any phone numbers listed mobile phone numbers (such as 0031-6 for Dutch mobile phones or +234 80 for Nigerian mobile phones)?
* Real lottery companies don't charge you 550 euros or more for paperwork to receive your winnings. Fake lotteries do, and then don't deliver any winnings...

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