I got a strange e-mail recently:
(I X-d out the identifying numbers, just in case this really is in the level . . .)
Has any other Doper received an e-mail like this?
It is a scam.
It’s a fraud .
I’ve received one months ago, though many details were different and I can’t remember many of them, except that the return address was in the Netherlands. I debated sending an email to the person just to see what would happen (couldn’t hurt without giving out any info), but decided not to, and filed it under the “too good to be true” camp.
Vis
Others beat me to it, but I’ll post another link.
Aside from that, here are some immediate red flags in my brain.
RF1- Winning a contest you have no recollection of entering.
RF2- Said contest notifies you by email that you’ve won.
RF3- Don’t tell anybody about this! We have some pending legal issues!
RF4- You have to respond in two weeks or the money dissapears forever!
I got one of those. As if some group would buy lotto tickets for random names when they could just buy them for themselves…
RF5 - No contact land address or telephone number.
It’s a scam.
From George Soros’ website:
For future reference, just know that all email announcements of lottery winnings are scams. If you’ve actually won something, someone will call you or deleiver it to you. You will never be informed in an email to call another phone number. Also the chances are almost zero that you will win a lottery that you’ve never entered.
If you have any doubts, just enter the name of the lottery into a google search. Chances are it won’t turn up at all or it will turn up one of the sites which keep the public abreast of ongoing frauds.
And there is never, ever any reason that you would be asked for personal information regarding bank accounts or credit cards, and there will never, ever, ever be a fee.
Have a look at the scamorama website to see how these things work and in particular how to reverse the scam.
Details aside, how often do people really want to hand out half a million dollars (and up) to complete strangers? It seems to me that you’d have to live on a different planet to believe there’s a realistic chance that such an offer could be genuine.
It stinks to high heaven!
If it smells bad it is bad.
If it sounds too good to be true, it is!
And if you are so foolish as to get to the point someone asks for you bank account number, DON’T!
Do people really still need to be told that total strangers never contact you to give you large amounts of money for no reason?
No, not even as a ‘prize’. The idea of prize draws are either to make money or promote something. Do you pay to enter this draw? Do you have the slightest idea what’s being promoted? No on both counts. So what possible motivation could these people have to give away 500,000 Euro?
Even so there are still a few poor incompetent souls who haven’t the common sense to come in out of the rain or to fall for a sucker promotion.
Related Topic:
Why else would anyone play the lottery?
Managing and operating the lottery pays well!
Let’s examine this masterpiece!
I will bet you a hundred million billion Euros that you never entered any such lottery.
“Shhhh! Be vewwy vewwy quiet, we’we hunting gweedy wabbits!” Legit contests/lotteries run by hugely famous rich guys (Soros) do not claim to have “mix-ups” that require secrecy.
“We’re a huge, wealthy foundation run by a billionaire! And he’s giving out millions of dollars in prizes! And he’s so chintzy he forces us to use free email accounts!”
Heh. No, that’s not a bit suspicious!
Y’know maybe it’s just me, but in my travels I’ve noticed that most program directors from legitimate foundations run by extremely famous and respected billionaires rarely use more than one exclamation point, maybe two at the most. Most also know how to capitalize correctly.
And they also know how to punctuate.
And use correct verbiage.
Also, how much of a “promotion” can it be, when the whole thing is being kept secret?
BTW, If you want to have a little fun with these folks, you can always check out http://www.419eater.com and post the message on their forum. These folks enter into some hilarious baiting correspondence with the scammers!
The only thing I can say is:
Why do you or anyone ever open SPAM?
I consider myself pretty spam-savvy but even I open the odd email or two that has a really convincing subject line. The smarter people get about spam, the more clever the spammers get.
And while many people might be floored by the idea that someone would genuinely wonder whether this was real or not, be at least allayed by the fact that the person was suspicious enough - and wise enough - to ask. Seriously, I think the last thing anyone should do is act amazed that someone could ask; better to ask and get the right answer than to be afraid of looking silly for asking. These scams exist for a reason: there are people who will believe them.