Police Hunt For Email Con Artists

Click here to read the full text of the email - Conment target Scottish football fans

Dundee United have asked Tayside Police to help them hunt down the con artists responsible for sending out the fake emails over the weekend.

As revealed by Vital Football (Dundee United) on Sunday, supporters have been receiving scam emails claiming to be from the club and congratulating you on winning the official club lottery.

All you have to do is reply to the email with some of your personal details to claim the £100,00 prize - which you apparently won because you email address was selected at random from the clubs contacts database.

However, it has been revealed that Dundee United supporters weren`t the only ones targeted by the scam - with some Dundee fans reporting similar emails appearing in their inboxes.

The Dundee United emails have a photo of Chairman Eddie Thompson, whilst the Dundee equivalent have one of former Dundee player Steve Lovell.

"Obviously it`s a scam and complete hoax that hasn`t originated from the club," a Dundee United spokesman told the Evening Telegraph.

"We have been speaking to the Police about it. We`d like to make all Dundee United supporters aware that it didn`t originate from us and we`ll be putting a warning message on the club website."

"Dundee United`s official website is www.dundeeunitedfc.co.uk, but the con artists are using the domain www.dundeeunitedfc.com to make it appear the emails are endorsed by us."

Some people might be duped by the emails, since they appear genuine at first and only ask for you standard details in a reply to the club - like name, address, date of birth etc.

However, even with that sort of information, the conmen could commit identity theft, by claiming false loans or applying for credit cards in your name.

"A scam is a scheme designing to con you out of your cash," said a spokeman for the Office of Fair Trading.

"If you let down your guard and think you wont be fooled, you too could become a victim. Scammers are becoming more sophisticated and aim to con us all."

Meanwhile, Dundee issued the following statement on their official site, regarding the scam emails.

"Several fans have contacted the club concerned about a spoof/spam email doing the rounds using Dundee Football Club's name at the moment - This email has nothing to do with the Club and we urge you to delete it straight away if you receive it, please do not reply to it."

"The people distributing the email have stolen an old header from the website featuring former player Steve Lovell celebrating a goal, and the official website address - Can we reiterate that this email has nothing to do with the Club."

"In the light of recent publicity in the local press about Internet fraud affecting the Dundee public, it's a good time to consider your Internet security, the website team have all recently changed their passwords on the forums/sites we visit on the web and we'd urge you to do the same, in particular we don't use the same username/password for forums we visit and sites where there could be a financial effect from fraud, and we don't ever reply to spam emails, like this one. You should be equally vigilant. It's a big online world, please be careful out there."

Click here to read the full text of the email - Conment target Scottish football fans

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