I won! I won! Well, maybe not
Some nice lady from Italy named Lillian Matt sent me an e-mail this morning, notifying me that I won a big lottery.
Here’s what it said:
REF: MSB/BC921245/KY14
batch:MBM/207161/007
LUCKY No: W-91237-H67/B4
We are pleased to inform you that your e-mail address has won the staatsloterij (€1.000.000) One Million Euros Lottery program held on 17th February 2007, released today 21th February 2007.you are to contact Mr Duncan Smith.
Tel : XX-XXX-XXX-XXX
Fax : XX-XXX-XXX-XXX
Email:xxxxxxxx@aim.com
——————————————————
Passa a Infostrada. ADSL e Telefono senza limiti e senza canone Telecom
http://click.xxxxxxx.it/infostrada22feb07
This is so cool. I didn’t even know my e-mail address could win me millions without having to even enter a foreign lottery.
It’s a scam, of course. Calling the phone number, e-mailing the address or clicking on the link provided either will involve me in a scheme where I have to pay money to get my prize or surrender personal information so that someone can steal my ID and fleece my bank accounts. It’s amazing how pervasive lottery scams are across the globe.
If you ever get such messages, either through mail, e-mail or phone, check one of my favorite fraud-busting Web sites –FraudAid– for a searchable database of all kinds of scams. It has a huge searchable database of lottery scams.