Yahoo! Lottery notifications – don’t fall for ‘em!

I trust that the vast majority of you all would never fall for such an obvious ruse (notice I spelled that correctly this time), but given the number of questions I’m getting via email, as well as what many users are asking on Yahoo! Answers (more than 6,000 questions!), I think it’s worth a reminder.

If you have received a message notifying you that you have won a Yahoo! Lottery award (no matter what country it claims to be from), don’t trust it. Over on the right I have a sample of a UK & Ireland version that offers winnings of £845,000. All you have to do is reply with all of your personal information!

Keep in mind that these types of messages can come in all shapes and sizes, and be any style imaginable. So the best thing to do is look for certain red flags. Be weary wary of any message containing the following:

• requests for sensitive account information, passwords, or bank information.
• offers of some form of unexpected financial windfall from estates or lotteries.
• anything that warns you not to tell anyone.

There are more, but those are some good ones to start with. If you are ever undecided about a message (some of the spammers are pretty crafty, after all) simply open a new browser and login to your account directly. If there is something important going on with your account, you should be notified when you login (this goes for most sites).

It also can’t hurt to keep an eye on the good ‘ol Yahoo! Security Site for all sorts of valuable tips to stay safe online!

Ryan K.
Community Manager
Yahoo! Mail