Lottery of Sham: National Lottery Commission Scam Gets a Facelift

The National Lottery Commission has been around for quite a while now, and many people are already aware of it. But that's not stopping cyber criminals from reviving the campaign, as they've reportedly tweaked the looks of the scam to make it seem more legitimate and believable.

According to reports from HOTforSecurity, an email that claims to be from the chief of the National Lottery Commission, Mark Harris, is making the rounds. It's a step up from the original variant of the scam, which was extremely poorly-worded and filled with grammatical errors.

Cyber criminals have also tweaked the email sender address to reflect a more legitimate-sounding email address, and added a link in the message that really directs to a domain that has Harris's name on it.

Because both the e-mail address and the link included in the message aren't fake or dangerous by themselves, phishing crooks can catch more innocent users. The phishing attempt may also bypass some anti-spam filters.

-- Bianca Dima, HOTforSecurity researcher

The actual National Lottery Commission warns people of such scams, with a warning clearly plastered on their website.

Does the email/letter ask you to pay money to receive your prize, or to tell them personal information such as bank details or passport information?

If yes, then this is not from the National Lottery. The UK National Lottery would never ask you to pay an administration fee to collect your prize, or to disclose any personal information.

The emails might have been polished, but it's still the same nasty scam that's offering non-existent prizes to get you to fork over your money instead. Don't fall for it.