Mr. Michael Woodgate - Fiduciary Agent For UK National Lottery - Barrister Mr. Charles Ferguson ripoff Internet

This is an online scam that tells you your email has been randomly selected to receive a piece of a UK National Lottery. It gives you the name and phone numbers of a Barrister to cover the "legalities" required to claim your money. When you contact the Barrister, which I did out of curiosity, the reply contains the name of a legitimate legal firm in the UK. Googling that firm, there is a listing of the Barristers that form the company and the name on the email isn't there. Contacting that firm gets the reply that, indeed, he isn't employed there and this is a scam.

It is a clever one, as there is NO request up front for any money and the messages tell you that there is NO money needed from you until the winnings are deposited in your account. THEN you will be asked to pay the fees of the attorney. After you provide them with some basic information such as name, address, etc., the lawyer comes back with the COURT fees that are required to claim the winnings. Since most Americans are not familiar with UK's lottery and vice versa, it would appear to be legitimate. One more case of internet fraud to beware of.

The firm of Silverman & Sherliker that is used by Mr. Charles Ferguson, claiming to be one of their Barristers, IS legitimate. Mr. Ferguson is not. The firm has been notified of their name being used in vain and has reported this to the police. I had not seen this particular version of something for a little before and wanted to make sure that it was public.

Melissa
Buffalo, New York
U.S.A.