US Citizens Alerted of Fake DOL Lottery E-mails

DOL (Department of Licensing) is cautioning people to watch out for phishing e-mails that pose as messages from DOL while talking of a lottery prize the recipient has won.

It was only when that a man from Alabama called the Olympia headquarters of DOL following his receipt of an e-mail, in March 2010, which aroused suspicion in him, that the scam got exposed.

The e-mail directed the recipient to send a $13,000 payment so as to get his prize money from Washington State. Moreover, the e-mail included attachments that contained forms asking him of his personal details.

It also displayed DOL's letterhead; its director's name viz. Liz Luce along with an e-mail ID claiming to be of Luce, but actually fake.

Liz Luce said that the e-mail senders were attempting to scam people, as per the statement published by King5.com on April 1, 2010. The Director said that he was shocked because they took his and the agency's names.

Luce added that the incident was undergoing an investigation by the Washington State Patrol, which regarded it as an instance of ID fraud/theft.

Although DOL received only one complaint, Luce fears that fraudsters may have e-mailed numerous such requests across U.S.

Luce also stated that while the perpetrators of such crimes are becoming increasingly sophisticated, the Department of Licensing is also advancing. Still, citizens are required to be alert as well, as per the statement published by Dol.wa.gov on April 1, 2010.

Luce further said that DOL wouldn't ever contact anyone over phone or e-mail to seek personal information; the current case is one which sounded too realistic to be believable.

Meanwhile, the agency is thinking about introducing a latest design for driver license shortly with the objective to prevent fraud. It's also examining other methods for keeping personal information protected as well as identity theft averted.

Further, it's asking all recipients of the fraudulent e-mail to ring up the helpdesk to file the fraud.

Similar to the latest e-mail lottery scam launched against U.S. citizens, one occurred in mid-March 2010 in Florida. The scam involved fake e-mails to recipients who were told that they were winners of a Florida Lottery award.

Related article: US Passes Baton to Asia in Spam Relay

» SPAMfighter News - 4/13/2010