# Is this another e-mail scam? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 19, 2004, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-another-e-mail-scam/264994 "2004-09-19T15:56:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2004, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-another-e-mail-scam/264994/1 "2004-09-19T15:56:45Z")
I got a strange e-mail recently: > [@](#): > > THE DIRECTOR PROMOTIONS, > > INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT, > > REF:XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX > > ATTN:AWARD WINNER > > AWARD NOTIFICATION > > We are pleased to inform you of the announcement today, 6TH SEPTEMBER 2004, of winners of the SOROS FOUNDATION NETWORK/INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY PROGRAMS OF UNITED KINGDOM held on 5TH AUGUST 2004. You / your company, attached to ticket number XXXXXXXXXX, with serial number XXXXXXXX drew the lucky numbers XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX, and consequently won in category C. > > You have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay out of 500,000.00 Euro (Five hundred thousand Euro) in cash credited to file REF NO.: XXXXXXXXXXX. This is from total prize money of 7,500,000.00 Euro( Seven million five hundred thousand Euro) shared among the fifteen international winners in the category C. All participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from 30,000 names from Australia, New Zealand, America, Asia, Europe, Africa, USA and North America as part of our International Promotions Program, which will subsequently be conducted annually. > > CONGRATULATIONS! > > Your fund is now deposited with a Finance and Security House and 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 quarterly high stakes 1.3 billion Euro International lotto. > > To begin your claim, please contact your claims officer immediately: > > MR. PAUL DUBERRY > > CHIEF FINANCIAL DIRECTOR. > > GREENWOOD FINANCIAL CONSULTANTS . > > [EMAIL:customerservicegwc@mail2uk.com](mailto:EMAIL:customerservicegwc@mail2uk.com) > > For due processing and remittance of your prize money to a designated account of your choice. Remember, you must contact your claims officer not later than two weeks on the receipt of this notification. > > After this date, all funds will be returned as unclaimed. > > ALL CORRESPONDENCES TO MR. PAUL DUBERRY BY EMAIL, SHOULD HAVE THIS EMAIL SENT ALONG WITH IT AND ALSO, YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS TO WHICH THIS EMAIL IS SENT, SHOULD BE CLEARLY AND BOLDLY WRITTEN IN YOUR RESPONSE. > > NOTE: In order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications, please remember to quote your reference number in every one of your correspondences with your officer. And all inquiries should go to him, do not bother to send requests to SOROS FOUNDATION NETWORK. Furthermore, should there be any change of your address, do inform your claims officer as soon as possible. > > Congratulations!!! once again from all our staff and thank you for being part of our promotions program. > > Sincerely, > > MRS.HILDA PINE > > THE DIRECTOR PROMOTIONS, > > SOROS FOUNDATION NETWORK > > N.B. Any breach of confidentiality on the part of the winners will result to immediate disqualification. > > * * * > > Mail sent from WebMail service at PHP-Nuke Powered Site > > - [http://www.jlovell.net](http://www.jlovell.net) (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? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2004, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-another-e-mail-scam/264994/2 "2004-09-19T16:06:28Z")
It is a [scam](http://www.lottery.co.uk/genhtml/?page=scam1). ---
**Author:** ![Oat1957](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Oat1957](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oat1957)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2004, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-another-e-mail-scam/264994/3 "2004-09-19T16:07:12Z")
It’s a [fraud](http://www.soros.org/newsroom/news/fraud_20040908) . ---
**Author:** ![Viscera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/258eb7/32.png) [@Viscera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Viscera)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2004, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-another-e-mail-scam/264994/4 "2004-09-19T16:08:12Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2004, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-another-e-mail-scam/264994/5 "2004-09-19T16:08:49Z")
Others beat me to it, but I’ll post another link. [Snopes](http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/info/lottery.asp) 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! ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2004, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-another-e-mail-scam/264994/6 "2004-09-19T16:09:19Z")
I got one of those. As if some group would buy lotto tickets for random names when they could just buy them for themselves… ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2004, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-another-e-mail-scam/264994/7 "2004-09-19T16:13:08Z")
> [@Folly](#): > > Aside from that, here are some immediate red flags in my brain. RF5 - No contact land address or telephone number. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2004, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-another-e-mail-scam/264994/8 "2004-09-19T16:15:55Z")
It’s a scam. From [George Soros’ website](http://www.soros.org/newsroom/news/fraud_20040908): > [@](#): > > The Open Society Institute has recently learned of an e-mail fraud that has apparently misappropriated the trademarked name “Soros Foundations Network” in service of a purported “lottery.” The Soros Foundations Network and OSI are in no way associated with or responsible for this “lottery” and find it reprehensible that the Network’s name is being deliberately misused in this fashion. > > This “lottery” appears to be a variant of a larger class of “lottery”-related email solicitations. They typically begin with a message claiming that the recipient has “won a lottery.” To collect “winnings,” the recipient is asked to contact a “claims agent,” who then usually requests personal information (credit card and bank account numbers, for example) to “verify” the recipient’s identity. Provision of this information enables the fraud’s operators to engage in identity theft. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2004, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-another-e-mail-scam/264994/9 "2004-09-19T16:23:22Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![InvidiousCourgette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@InvidiousCourgette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InvidiousCourgette)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2004, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-another-e-mail-scam/264994/10 "2004-09-19T16:26:04Z")
Have a look at the [scamorama](http://www.scamorama.com/) website to see how these things work and in particular how to reverse the scam. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2004, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-another-e-mail-scam/264994/11 "2004-09-19T16:29:01Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2004, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-another-e-mail-scam/264994/12 "2004-09-19T16:56:42Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > 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 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! ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2004, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-another-e-mail-scam/264994/13 "2004-09-19T18:23:29Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2004, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-another-e-mail-scam/264994/14 "2004-09-19T20:19:19Z")
> [@Futile Gesture](#): > > 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! ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2004, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-another-e-mail-scam/264994/15 "2004-09-19T20:28:19Z")
Let’s examine this masterpiece! > [@](#): > > We are pleased to inform you of the announcement today, 6TH SEPTEMBER 2004, of winners of the SOROS FOUNDATION NETWORK/INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY PROGRAMS OF UNITED KINGDOM held on 5TH AUGUST 2004. You / your company, attached to ticket number XXXXXXXXXX, with serial number XXXXXXXX drew the lucky numbers XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX, and consequently won in category C. I will bet you a hundred million billion Euros that you never entered any such lottery. > [@](#): > > Your fund is now deposited with a Finance and Security House and 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. “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. > [@](#): > > [EMAIL:customerservicegwc@mail2uk.com](mailto:EMAIL:customerservicegwc@mail2uk.com) “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!” > [@](#): > > And all inquiries should go to him, do not bother to send requests to SOROS FOUNDATION NETWORK. Heh. No, that’s not a _bit_ suspicious! > [@](#): > > Congratulations!!! once again from all our staff and thank you for being part of our promotions program. 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. > [@](#): > > Sincerely, > > MRS.HILDA PINE > > THE DIRECTOR PROMOTIONS, > > SOROS FOUNDATION NETWORK And they also know how to punctuate. > [@](#): > > N.B. Any breach of confidentiality on the part of the winners will result **to** immediate disqualification. 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](http://www.419eater.com) and post the message on their forum. These folks enter into some hilarious baiting correspondence with the scammers! ---
**Author:** ![olefin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d78d45/32.png) [@olefin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/olefin)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2004, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-another-e-mail-scam/264994/16 "2004-09-19T20:39:36Z")
The only thing I can say is: **Why do you or anyone ever open SPAM?** ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2004, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-another-e-mail-scam/264994/17 "2004-09-19T22:33:34Z")
> [@olefin](#): > > 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.