Lottery scam, advance fee scam, beware!
Date: October 25, 2005Source: wikipedia.org/
Computer Crime Research Center files a lot of e-mails every day. People turn to us complaining that they received e-mail notifications of winning lotteries. People BEWARE! Did you take part in any lotteries you allegedly have won? Did you buy any lottery tickets? Here you can know some information that might be helpful.
Thank you, Computer Crime Research Center
A typical lottery scam is a scam email that tells the recipient they have won a sum of money in a lottery. The recipient is instructed to keep the notice secret and to contact an agent. After contacting the "agent", the recipient will be asked to pay money as fees, but will never receive any lottery payment.
This scam is a version of an advance fee fraud scam. A typical scam email will read like this:
PRIME LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL
Customer Service
Ref:ABC/34085746305872/34
Batch: 293/34/3473
WINNING NOTIFICATION:
WINNING NOTIFICATION: We happily announce to you the draw of the UK-LOTTO Sweepstake Lottery International programs held on the 27th of March, 2004 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Your e-mail address attached to ticket number: 564 75600545188 with Serial number 5368/02 drew the lucky numbers: 19-6-26-17-35-7, which subsequently won you the lottery in the 2nd category.
You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of US$2,500,000.00 (Two million, Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars)in cash credited to file ktu/9023118308/03.This is from a total cash prize of U.S $ 2.5 Million dollars, shared amongst the first nine (9) luckywinners in this category.
All participants were selected randomly from World Wide Web site through computer draw system and extracted from over 100,000 companies. This promotion takes place annually. Please note that your lucky winning number falls within our European booklet representative office in Europe as indicated in your play coupon. In view of this, your U.S$2,500,000.00 (Two million, Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) would be released to you by our payment office in Europe.
Our European agent will immediately commence the process to facilitate the release of your funds as soon as you contact him. For security reasons, you are advised to keep your winning information confidential till your claims is processed and your money remitted to you in whatever manner you deem fit to claim your prize.
This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program by some unscrupulous elements. Please be warned.
To file for your claim, please contact our fiduciary agent: Mr Richard Diwar Email:[email protected]
To avoid unnecessary delays and complications, please quote your reference/batch numbers in any correspondence with us or our designated agent.
Congratulations once more from all members and staffs of this program. Thank you for being part of our promotional lottery program.
Sincerely,
SIR HENRY BERNARD
UK-LOTTO Co-ordinator
Another type of lottery scam is a scam email or web page that tells the recipient they have won a sum of money in the lottery. The recipient is instructed to contact an agent very quickly, in some cases offering extra prizes (such as a 7 Day/6 Night Bahamas Cruise Vacation! if the user rings within 4 minutes, by Sundance Vacations). After contacting the "agent", the recipient will be asked to come to an office, where during one hour or more, the conditions of receiving the offer are revealed. For example, the prize recipient is encouraged to spend as much as 30 times the prize money in order to receive the prize itself. In other words, although the offer is in fact genuine, it is really only a discount of a few percent on an extremely expensive purchase. This type of scam is legal in many jurisdictions.
Advance fee fraud, often also known as the Nigerian money transfer fraud, Nigerian scam or 419 scam after the relevant section of the Nigerian Criminal Code [1] that it violates, is a fraudulent scheme to extract money from investors living in relatively richer countries in Europe, Australia, or North America. This type of scam, originally known as the "Spanish Prisoner Letter" [2], has been carried out since at least the sixteenth century via ordinary postal mail. These scams have come to be associated in the public mind with Nigeria due to the massive proliferation of such confidence tricks from that country since the mid-eighties, although they are often also carried out in other African nations, and increasingly from European cities with large Nigerian populations, notably London and Amsterdam.
Originally, the schemers contacted mainly heads of companies and church officials, however, the use of e-mail spam and instant messaging for the initial contacts has led to many private citizens also being targeted, as the cost to the scammers to make initial contact is much lower.
The United States Federal Trade Commission has issued a Consumer Alert about the Nigerian scam. It says: "If you receive an offer via email from someone claiming to need your help getting money out of Nigeria — or any other country, for that matter — forward it to the FTC at [email protected]."
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
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