You Have Won A Lottery!Have you received an email out of the blue saying you've won a prize in an international lottery?
Well, guess what. You are probably one of the hundreds of millions of people getting this lottery scam email. You're excited about the windfall and keen to claim the money, even though you don't exactly remember ever entering into the lottery in the first place. You contact the people who emailed you, and they reply in a polite and helpful way. There's just one catch. They want you to send them a 'processing fee' before sending you your 'winnings'. And you are advised to keep the lottery win strictly confidential (the real purpose is of course to prevent others from telling you that it is a scam). The 'processing fee' is what these scammers are really after. Remember, if it is too good to be true, it probably is!
Example of Lottery Scam
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SUBJECT: CONGRATULATIONS
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THE INTERNATIONAL LOTTO
PO BOX 1011
LIVERPOOL, L70 1NL
UNITED KINGDOM.
FROM: THE DESK OF THE PROMOTIONS MANAGER,
INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT,
REF:EKS255125600304 AND BATCH NO: 54/1017/IDL.
ATTENTION: Sir/Madam,
RE/ AWARD NOTIFICATION
We are pleased to inform you of the announcement today, 23rd of May
2003, of winners of THE INTERNATIONAL LOTTO PROGRAMS held on 20TH of
april 2003 as part of our first quater of the year bonanza.
You or your company, attached to ticket number 034-1416-4612-750, with
serial number 6521-11 drew the lucky numbers 31-51-22-24-39-43, and
consequently won the lottery in category C.
You have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay out of US$1.2Million
in cash credited to file REF: EKS255125600304 . This is from total prize
money of US$16,800,000.00 shared among 14 winners
in this category. All participants were selected through a computer
balloting system drawn from 25,000 names from Middle East, Asia, Africa,
Canada, Europe and North America and Oceania as part our International
Promotions Program, which is conducted annually.
CONGRATULATIONS!
Your fund is now deposited with EQUITY INVESTMENT LIMITED, a security,
House insured in your name. Due to the mix up of some numbers and names,
we ask that you keep this award strictly from public notice until your
claim has been processed and your money remitted to your account. This
is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming or
unscrupulous acts by participants of this program.
We hope with a part of your prize, you will participate in our end of
year high stakes US$1.3 billion International Lottery.
To begin your claim, please contact your claims agent;
MICHAEL MASON
EQUITY INVESTMENT LIMITED,
LONDON,
TEL/FAX:+447092013604
SATELLITE PHONE: +8821646685846.
EMAIL:
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for due processing and remittance of your prize money to a designated
account of your choice.
Remember, you must contact your claim agent not later than 3rd of june
2003. After this date, all funds will be returned as unclaimed. All
correspondences to MR.MICHAEL MASON,either by fax or email,should have
this EMAIL sent along with it and also, your FULL ADDRESS, YOUR COUNTRY
OF RESIDENCE and your EMAIL ADDRESS to which this email is sent,should
be clearly and BOLDLY WRITTEN IN YOUR RESPONSE with your claims agent.
NOTE: In order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications, please
remember to quote your reference and batch numbers in every one of your
correspondences with your agent. Furthermore,should there be any change
of your address, do inform your claims agent as soon as possible.
Congratulations again from all our staff and thank you for being part of
our promotions program.
Sincerely,
SHIRLEY JENSEN.
THE PROMOTIONS MANAGER,
THE INTERNATIONAL LOTTO uk.
N.B. Any breach of confidentiality on the part of the winners will
result to disqualification. Please do not reply to this mail. Contact
your claim agent |
Check out ACCC's Scam Watch website ( http://www.scamwatch.gov.au/ ) to get educated on how to protect yourself from scams like these. Knowledge is the only protection. If you found this article useful, click on the Email icon  above to send this page to your friends and families. |
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