Acorn Express Courier LTD ,UK National Lottery Online Sweepstakes Received an email stating that I had been randomly selected by my email address to win $480,000.00 GBP Bellshill Ind Other

I received and email from: UK National e-Lottery with subject line: Notification Letter that read:
This email is to inform you that you have won (J480,000.00GBP) on our online draws which was played on Saturday 14th March 2009. Your email address was picked

Official: Mr. Paul Dyer
Email: mrpldyer@XXXXXemail.com

Yours Truly,
Sir. Gregory Smith
Co-ordinator (Online Promo Programme).

I then send Mr. Dyer an email asking to explain further, and I'll attach the respond here: (I'm attaching so anybody receiving this email knows what to look out for)
-----Inline Message Follows-----

Good day to you,

I am in receipt of your email and would want to inform you that with respect to your reference number, you have been selected as a winner in this quarter of the UK National Lottery Online Sweepstakes Promotion in the second category.

Your email address which was randomly selected along with others from over 24,000 website on the Internet was attached to a ticket number (112-4540-525-106) which subsequently won you the lottery in the second category. You are therefore entitled to claim a lump payout sum of 480,000.00(Four Hundred and Eighty Thousand Great Britain Pounds) in cash credited to your file (UXL/03920462943/07). This is from a total cash prize of 3,361,064.00 (Three million three hundred and sixty-one thousand and sixty-four Great Britain Pounds) shared equally amongst the seven (7) lucky winners in your category.

You are required to provide the information requested below to facilitate my activities with the verification department for the release of your cash prize.

1. Full Name(s):
2. Full Address:
3. Telephone No.:
4. Age:
5. Sex:
6. Marital Status:
7. Occupation:
8. Nationality:
9. Country of Residence:

Endeavour to keep information about your lottery winning confidential until your claims have been processed and funds have been remitted to you. This is to avoid double claiming as it might lead to your disqualification by the lottery board.

I await your swift response to the requested information to forge ahead with proceedings.

Best regards,
Mr. Paul Dyer.
+44 704 5710 977

This telephone number happens to be only one digit off from the number for the Acorn Express Courier which is: +44 704 5710 976, so apparently this is a group of people working together or maybe just one individual using different names trying to get people sucked into the lure of having won big money.
At this point nothing looked out of order so I filled in the information requested and sent it back to Mr. Dyer. The following is the response I received and that is what alerted me and RED FLAGS CAME UP:

Hello XXXXXXXX,

Compliments of the day to you. Your claims have been duly verified and endorsed by the National Lottery Board (N.L.B) thus you have been confirmed a winner in this quarter of the UK National Lottery Online Sweepstakes Promotion. You have therefore been approved to receive a lump lottery payout sum to the tune of 480,000.00 (Four Hundred and Eighty Thousand Great Britain Pounds) in cash credited to your file (UXL/03920462943/07).

The hard copy of all relevant lottery winning documents which includes your Winnings Certificate, Certified Bank Cheque and Clear Source of Funds Certificate (C.S.F.C) has been deposited with our contracted payment office (Acorn Express Courier Ltd) for onward dispatch to you. You are to immediately contact Acorn Express Courier with the information below for further inquiries on how to receive your cash prize.

ACORN EXPRESS COURIER LTD
Unit 63, Evens Business Center,
Belgrave Street, Bellshill Ind Est Bellshill,
ML4 3NP United Kingdom.
Contact Official: Mr. Frank Wales (MANAGER).
Direct Line: +(44)7045710976
Tel/Fax: +(44)870-974-0588
Email: acornXXXXXXXXXXcourier_ltd@yahoo.co.uk

In accordance with Section 24(c) of the International Lottery Act of 1996, winners residing/resident outside the United Kingdom - may - be - obliged - with - financial - responsibilities as regards disbursement of cash prize to their location because the British Gambling Board does not permit the National Lottery to assume such responsibilities outside the United Kingdom. This is in line with the Insurance policy drawn on your cash prize to counter misappropriation of funds in the course of disbursement on contraction to Acorn Express Courier Ltd.

Please note that its imperative that you add your IDENTIFICATION CODE {LSTL/UKL/0736/027AG} as the subject on initial correspondence with the Acorn Express Courier via email. You may also contact them via telephone for a more timely response. Also attach a scanned copy of either your driver's license, international passport (photo page) or any other legally identifying document and send to us for identification purposes in the letter you are sending to him.

Ensure to keep all information about this lottery winnings confidential as earlier informed until your cash prize has been remitted to you. This is to avoid double claiming/disqualification in this final stage of your lottery claim.

Best regards,
Mr. Paul Dyer

If you look at paragraph 3 in the previous email, I separated the alarming verbiage and put a hyphen in between them. Look out for this scam, don't get sucked in, happily I realized there was a problem before going further and devulging any damaging information.


Roy
San Diego, California
U.S.A.