The National Lottery has published an advisory on its site regarding such schemes

Mar 27, 2013 07:45 GMT  ·  By

We’ve often issued warnings about lottery scams, but since new variants keep surfacing, we want to keep you informed so that you know what to do in case you receive an email letting you know that you’ve won millions.

Hoax Slayer has identified two different lottery scams that purport to be sponsored by the UK National Lottery.

One of the variants reads something like this:

“The United Kingdom National Lottery in association with FIFA is pleased to announce to you today, of your winning in the release of its final draw of the International Promotions Programme of the FIFA-Brazil 2014 soccer world cup.

You were selected as a winner in a random World Wide Web computerized draw system, extracted from over (100,000 000) companies and individual email addresses worldwide. The lottery programme is aimed at promoting Brazil’s 2014 soccer world cup in June 2014.”

Another one looks something like this:

“We happily announce to you the draw (1117) of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY, online Sweepstakes International program held on Monday,18th december,2006 in London, UNITED-KINGDOM.

You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of £558,077( FIVE HUNDRED AND FIFTY EIGHT THOUSAND, SEVENTY SEVEN POUNDS STERLINGS) incash, credited to file ktu/9023118308/03. This is from a total cash prize of £ 3. 4 Million pounds, shared amongst the first Four (4) lucky winners in this category.”

In both cases, recipients are instructed to reply to the emails and provide their names, addresses, and other personal information.

The National Lottery is well aware of such scams and it has even published an advisory on its official website.

Users are advised never to respond to such emails. No one ever wins anything, no matter how legitimate the notification looks.

If you provide your information to the con artists, they might utilize it for identity theft. They can also make a direct profit by tricking unsuspecting Internet users into sending them a certain amount of money that’s allegedly needed to wire them the prize money.

If you come across such emails, simply ignore them. If you’re a victim, contact Action Fraud at 0300 123 2040 and file a report.