# What is the deal with the British National Lottery?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-deal-with-the-british-national-lottery/426240>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [November 13, 2007, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-deal-with-the-british-national-lottery/426240 "2007-11-13T14:54:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-deal-with-the-british-national-lottery/426240/1 "2007-11-13T14:54:39Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> Ref: UK/776090X2/23  
> Batch: 013/06/8394369.
> 
> British National Lottery online program held on the 10th of November 2007. You have been approved to claim a sum of £1,500,000(One Million Five Hundred Thousand Pounds Sterling )In United Kingdom The selection process was carried out through random selection in Our computerized email selection system (ess) from a database of over 100,000 email Addresses drawn from which you were selected.To file for your claim, please contact our fiduciary agent by email.
> 
> Mr Edison Walker.  
> Phone Number:+44 703-193-1352  
> [E-mail:edisonwalker\_lottery@yahoo.co.uk](mailto:E-mail:edisonwalker_lottery@yahoo.co.uk)
> 
> Fill the below:
> 
> 1. Name: 2. Address 3. Marital Status: 4. Occupation: 5. Age:
> 2. Sex: 7. Nationality: 8. Country of Residence: 9. Telephone Number:
> 
> Regards  
> Mrs. Stella Ellis  
> (Group Coordinator

I know it is a scam. But Snopes came up dry. What’s the deal? Randomly picking out email addys to award big money too …it…all…makes…perfect…sense…  
But srsly.

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**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-deal-with-the-british-national-lottery/426240/2 "2007-11-13T15:00:19Z")

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[Here’s](http://www.joewein.de/sw/419-el-gordo.htm) info on something similar- Spain’s El Gordo Lottery spam. It is apparently just a variant on a 419 scam, meaning they’ll ask for processing fees, transferring fees, courier fees, taxes, etc. once you’ve swallowed the bait.

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**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-deal-with-the-british-national-lottery/426240/3 "2007-11-13T15:07:04Z")

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Thanks. I knew I wasn’t that lucky.  
Oooh, look, Google ads are about " Mental Ill"

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**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-deal-with-the-british-national-lottery/426240/4 "2007-11-13T15:23:39Z")

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And there’re a couple of giveaways that it’s a scam on the email:

Why would someone representing a large organisation have a Yahoo email address instead of one at that organisation?

Why is that person’s number in the UK’s [+44 70 range](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_numbers_in_the_United_Kingdom), which is personal numbers?