Chinese residents in the crosshairs of a New Lottery Scam

A new lottery scam is calling up Chinese residents of Mainland BC and hooking them with the lure of entering a sweepstakes. The scam presents itself to residents as the Hong Kong Shi Hua Telecommunications and says it is conducting a marketing survey. Respondents are asked to answer a few questions as a part of the survey and then are offered the chance to participate in a sweepstakes contest.

A few days later, the scam calls up informing they have won the lottery. Anything between $10,000 to $100,000 was theirs for the picking. There would be some formalities, however, to be completed beforehand. For starters, they are asked to submit a sum of about $5,000 to the company. The sum was being taken as security deposit to insure their prize money, it is explained.

They are next asked to submit personal information like name, date-of-birth, SIN Card number, driving license details and bank account numbers.

After the lapse of a few days, they call up again. Winners are asked to deposit some more money. The scam explains this is membership fees which all winners are required to pay.

Those who smelt something fishy at this stage asked for their earlier deposit back. But they were told the money had been deposited with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority as an official procedure to prove they were not a money laundering firm.

Of course, this being a scam, victims are never going to receive the promised prize money. They also stand to lose all money they send across to the fraudsters.

According to complaints lodged with Mainland’s Chinese Community Policing Centre (CCPC), the scam was also approaching residents saying they were here to open a travel agency franchise.

Mainland BC’s Better Business Bureau warned against the scam thus:

Don’t participate in foreign lotteries. Consumers in Canada are not allowed to enter foreign lotteries, so do not provide any personal information if contacted by a person offering the chance to participate in a foreign lottery.

Source: Mainland BC BBB’s News Release

Anonymous:
January 6th, 2009 at 12:07 pm

I have just received this e-mail:

THE Google UK GIVE-AWAY TEAM.

Google UK, North London Business Park (NLBP)
Oakleigh Road South, London N11 1NP
TEL:+ 44 703 195 8488 ,+44 703 192 6672, +44 871 503 4712,
Fax:+44 700 597 8372 .
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

Dear Googler,

Your email was received and duly acknowledged. I am Francis Henson the Give-Away Processing Agent assigned for the claim process of your funds.

Your winning numbers have been checked and it falls among our winnings numbers for this New year anniversary promotion. Note, No purchase of ticket was require for this draw and all Participants(email address) for the draws were randomly selected from a worldwide range of web searchers who use the Google search engine(Googler) and other Google ancillary services and this is how your email was discovered and used among others for this New year anniversary promotions.

On Behalf of the Screening Committee, We hereby inform you that you are therefore cleared as approved Official beneficiary of £500, 000.00 GBP (Five Hundred Thousand British Pounds) only. Your payment processing commenced immediately and your cash prize will be ready for disbursement as soon as the process is completed.

In this regard you are required to go through the below Give-away payment options and let us know how you want your payment to be made to you.

GIVE-AWAY PAYMENT OPTIONS (Terms and conditions to note before filling the Google Give-away lotto Verification /Payment form)

Find below, the Google Give-Away lotto Verification/ payment Form complete and the prize payment mode with their respective terms and Conditions .

The Google Give-away lotto Verification Form is to be filled by the sole beneficiary of the prize funds (you) and returned by email or Fax(Fax:+44 700 597 8372 ) for final processing before cash pickup, optional delivery or transfer process can be initiated.

Copy of your passport or drivers licence as means of identification should be sent along with the Verification/ payment Form to speedup the process.

In this regard you are to carefully read through the payment options below to know the payment option that best suites you on how you wish to receive your funds. Make sure you indicate your option on the Verification/ payment Form at the bottom of this mail.

Your prize will be processed Bank Cheques(draft) of £500, 000.00 GBP, this complies with the Anti-Fraud section 2,sub section (iv) of the procedural manual of the funds disbursement agreement existing between companY and the British Government.

Option 1. Personal prize Pickup:
You are required to come down in person to Personally pickup your prize at any of our disbursement locations (agents) here in LONDON. You will be required to present a valid International Passport as proof of Identification, A tax clearance from your local tax office, police report attesting your patriotism and crime free citizen of your Country and a printed copy of your winning notification letter , Google Give-Away lotto verification/payment form and copy of your birth certificate or affidavit for age declaration. Note that only the beneficiary(you) have the right to visit us for prize pickup. This option is basically for lucky winners who can easily visit us in person with the above stated pickup requirements.

NOTE: Payment Option 2 and option 3 below are alternatives and are design for lucky winners who are unable to pickup their prize personally from any of our disbursement locations (agents) here in LONDON due to one reason or the other.

Option 2. Courier Delivery Service:
We have given our winners the opportunity to secure thier prize by using our affiliate International Delivery Company in getting their prize dispatched at the comfort of their homes if able to meet the condition attached. If you intend using this option 2 maybe due to one reason or the other, Google Give-away team will however exempts itself from all liabilities/expenses needed to finalize the dispatch process our affiliate International Delivery Company . In agreement with our policy in this regard, The shipment (dispatch) cost is to be borne by you; this is a prerequisite for this option to our lucky winners who are unable to visit us. Lucky winner using this option will be referred to our International Courier Delivery company for information about Shipment and the required Cost . This is also design to prevent international winners from loosing their prizes to the Company. This is the best claim option for non-residential winners because it is more liable and affordable.

Option 3. Online Bank Transfer:
Have your fund transferred through an online Banking system to your designated Bank account. This option cost more than option 2 above. Google Give-away team will however exempts itself also from all liabilities/expenses needed to finalize the remittance of your fund to your designated bank account. This means that the Cost of Transfer (CoT) charge to be required by our paying Bank in executing the remittance of your to your local Bank account will be borne by you outside your prize. This is the condition attached to this option aswell. NOTE: It is against our policy/ Law for your fund to be tempered or deducted by any of our paying agents (Delivery Company or Bank) before it finally gets to you. Which- ever option you are using , we are ready to serve you better. Just copy out the form below and fill with the required details in the space box provided. Double click on space box to be able to write in it .

GIVE-AWAY LOTTO VERIFICATION / PAYMENT FORM

Section A.
**PERSONAL INFORMATION**
Prefix (Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr.):
First name :
Middle name :
Last name :
Date of Birth (yyy-mm-dd) :
Occupation :
Address :

City/State/province
Country :

Telephone number(s):
Mobile number(s):
Email Address 1&2:
Section B.
** WINNING INFORMATION / PAYMENT OPTIONS **
Amount won / Date of notification
Ticket number / Serial number
Lucky numbers / CGPN
Payment Options (tick on any of the payment option, the one that you find most convenient) Personal prize Pickup.
Courier Delivery Service.
Online Bank Transfer.

I expect you to fill and return the Give-Away lotto Verification/payment form above within 24hrs upon receipt of this message so that appropriate arrangement can be put in place.

Regards,
Mr. Francis Henson
GOOGLE PAYMENT PROCESSING AGENT 2009
IMPORTANT NOTICE: To avoid double claims, you are advised to keep your winning details very confidential, as any discrepancies resulting from a breach of this confidentiality on the Parts of the winners will be covered solely by such winner as our staffs are bound by the oath of secrecy taken on employment

Kathy Smith:
March 17th, 2009 at 2:50 pm

Keep up the great content!!

Damien Law:
March 17th, 2009 at 2:55 pm

Hello. Great job. I did not expect this especially on slow days like this. This is a great story. Thanks!

Paula Smith:
March 17th, 2009 at 2:59 pm

Please, can you PM me and tell me a bit about this, I am really a fan of your blog…

Katri Stanowski:
March 17th, 2009 at 3:02 pm

Thank you for your help!

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Chinese residents in the crosshairs of a New Lottery Scam

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