All right, first off, I definitely recognize this as a scam, but I wonder if it was a new one, or a well-known one I just got hit with:
I don’t see anything immediately scammy, but I bet if you call the phone number, a computer (or maybe person, but I doubt it) will ask you to enter your social security number and your bank acount number so your “winnings” can be transferred directly to you.
Which means it’s the same ol’ identity theft scam in new wrappings.
Yep, it’s a pretty standard advance fee scam; they build you up, get you hooked, then at the last moment, ask you to pay (in advance) a ‘transfer fee’ or an ‘account setup fee’ or ‘capital gains taxes’ or some such; you cough up the cash and they disappear into the sunset with it.
I received my first Lottery Scam, amongst all the various Nigeria Scam e-mails, on October 22, 2003, so it’s been going on for at least that long. (I save most of my scam e-mails, out of interest to see how they evolve over time.) It was also about that time that I started to receive Nigeria-Scam type e-mails from countries outside of Africa (purportedly).
This is my first one:
These are my winnings to date:
WORLDWIDE PREMIER LOTTO, UK: £7,500,000 (3 times!)
GOLDEN LOTTERY U.K.: £6,500,000.00
PROTEA GAMES SOUTH AFRICA: $2,500,000.00
INTERNATIONALSWEEPSTAKES LOTTO (UK): $5,500,000.00
THE UK NATIONAL LOTTERY: £500,000.00
luckydaylottopromo international: $3,000,000 (twice)
FORTUNE CITY LOTTERY (Netherlands): 5,000,000.00 EURO
The Big Lottery Fund (NCVO) (UK): £275,033.00
UNIVERSAL STAKES Lottery Program: 2,000,000 EUROS
Pretty damn impressive, no?
It’s been going on for decades. They tried the same scam with the Irish Sweepstakes.
Hey Colibri- did ya know that the Nigerian Oil Scam comes under the juristiction of the Secret Service? Weird.
Can I have $15,000 for a honeymoon?
Sure, no prob. Send me your bank account number, Social Security number, and your credit card number, and I’ll mail you a check right away. But make sure you keep this all strictly confidential! 