BBB New Email Scam Alert: "You've Won Tickets to 2012 Olympics"

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The BBB wants you to be on the lookout for emails that proclaim you have won tickets to the 2012 Olympics in London. Although the email may look real, you have NOT won tickets to the Olympics. 

Every big event brings scammers out of the woodwork and the BBB is now seeing one of the first scams related to the 2012 Olympics which will be held in London.

“This is yet another phishing scam,” said BBB President Tom Bartholomy, “all the scammers are doing is using a new ‘hook’ to lure you into giving them your personal information so they can steal your identity.”

This phishing scam uses the U.K. National Lottery logo so that the email looks legitimate. The bait is the prize announcement that ‘you are one of ten people who won a lottery for tickets to the Olympics in London in 2012.”  The trick is that REAL tickets to the 2012 Olympics will in fact be given away through the National Lottery, and they will also be sold through a ticket lottery system. So, this scam is similar enough to the actual ticket distribution system, that it can fool you into thinking it may be real and get you to call or click on the links contained in the email.

If you call the number provided, you will be asked for enough personal information for the scammers to steal your identity.  You may also be asked for a credit card number to pay taxes or fees to claim your ‘prize’.

If  you click on the links in the scam email, your computer will almost certainly be infected with malware or spyware viruses that can help the scammers find enough information on your computer hard drive to steal your identity.

“It happens every day,”  Bartholomy added.

The BBB has some simple advice to keep you safe:

• If you did not enter a lottery or contest, you did not win it.

• NEVER click on links contained in emails you receive from someone you don’t know, even if the email looks real.

• NEVER give out personal information over the telephone or online to someone you don’t know.

• Make sure your computer has up to date, anti-virus software because new scams are created every day.

• When in doubt, check it out with the BBB.  It’s fast, easy and FREE to check on companies out at www.bbb.org.

For more information on phishing scams or identity theft, please visit www.bbb.org.

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SCAM EMAIL

From: London 2012 Olympics [mailto:no_reply@national-lotteryuk.org]
Sent: Wednesday, September 08, 2010 4:34 AM
Subject: London 2012 Olympics Update

 

Congratulations, your email has just been choosen as one of the 10 lucky winners in the random email balloting system of the London 2012 Olympics Lottery service as organised by the National Lottery Board of the United Kingdom.

Your email has drawn the winning ticket number of 7-0-3-9-1-9-4-0-8.

You are to immediately call our global telephone email lottery confirmation number on +44.161.884.0943  for winning details and other relevant information. When requested, key in your winning number above and listen for further details.

Please email  winners@national-lotteryuk.org to claim your winnings with the following details.

1)  TICKET NUMBER AS WRITTEN ABOVE

2)  FULL NAMES

3)  FULL ADDRESS

4)  DATE OF BIRTH

WINNERS BELOW THE AGE OF18 YEARS WILL BE DISQUALIFIED AUTOMATICALLY.

Thank you for your time and congratulations once more.

London 2012 Olympics Lottery Service Team!

Licensed By The National Lottery Board Of the UK.

© 2010 London 2012 Olympics Lottery Service. All rights reserved.

PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE. EMAILS REPLIED TO THIS EMAIL ADDESS WILL NOT BE READ OR ANSWERED.

THIS IS AN AUTOMATED EMAIL. CONTACT WINNERS@NATIONAL-LOTTERYUK.ORG FOR FURTHER DETAILS.

 

LONDON 2012 Response 

-----Original Message-----
From: London 2012 Ticket Support [mailto:ticketsupport@tickets.london2012.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 09, 2010 10:44 AM
To: NAME REMOVED; London 2012 Ticket Support
Subject: RE: Email enquiry: General ticketing information

Dear NAME REMOVED,

Thank you for your email.

It has been drawn to our attention that London 2012's name has been abused in relation to some email scams and other fraudulent or inappropriate conduct.

Scam emails try to persuade the email receiver to submit personal information or to part with money as an up-front payment in order to release a prize.

We have also been made aware of fake lotteries and prize draws which purport to raise funds for London 2012 but don't.

Currently there are three ways of playing National Lottery games by which you can contribute to the Games:

Dream Number - a draw-based game played twice weekly and played alongside the main Lotto draw Instant Win Games Scratch cards - it is always possible to tell whether a Lottery Scratch card is a bona fide fundraiser for London 2012. To verify this, read the back of the ticket and look out for the following wording 'The Good Cause contribution from the sale of this Scratch card will go to the fund set up for the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games'.

The majority of scratch cards raising funds for the Games carry the London 2012 logo but this is not always the case and you should refer to the back of the ticket for confirmation of official status.

All official London 2012 Games will be operated by the National Lottery.

As a general rule, if you have not entered a competition, you won't have won a prize, and you should treat the email with absolute caution. Official London 2012 Volunteer and Supporter emails are always sent from one of the following addresses:

support@london2012.com or support@london2012.org.

If you do receive an unsolicited email purporting to be from London 2012, which is not from either of these email addresses, do not open it - delete it and in no circumstances should you provide any personal details or pay any money over to person who sent the email.

Best wishes,

Andy on behalf of The London 2012 Ticketing team.