Scam 101

You won the sum of £1 000,000.00 GBP from our monthly Uk Lottery Promotion,

you are hereby adviced to
get back to us, to claim your prize.
Contact: Dr.Frank Millan
Email:claims.uklottery2008@yahoo.de

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Your email address has won $4.6M from the UK Lottery online draws
held on the 18th April 2008 Lucky Number:MX014926583
Contact Mr. Jonathan Ong with your official name,country,address,sex/age,
tel,occupation,date of draw on(jonathanong20000@yahoo.com.hk)
Tel+447045772228 for delivery of your cheque
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Your E-Address was selected for category B in this weeks
InternationalUnited Kingdom Lotto programme.
These are your details.Your draw has a total value of
One Million Pounds(£1,000.000.00).
ticket number:56475600545188fileXYL/26510460037/05

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Overnight, I won a total of 2 million pounds and 4.6 million dollars. That is according to the three e-mails I received. These e-mails are, obviously, fraudulent. You might agree with me that nobody in their right mind will believe these scams. Believe me, there are countless victims world wide.

This e-mail scam is similar to the Nigerian Advance Fee Scheme. You will be asked to send your personal details. Once you've done that , the scammer might stop since he has your details which could translate to identity theft or he might proceed with the next step. If the scammer continues, then his next step would be to ask you for processing fess which could amount anywhere from $5,000 to $20,000.

My first experience with this kind of scam was in 2001, although I've been using the internet,(dial-up internet connection with a speed of 28 kbs ?) since 1998. I received a letter from a certain woman who claimed she was dying of cancer. She said she found my e-mail add from a church organization data base. Being naive to scams, I answered her e-mail. She said she was going to leave me $ 48 million because she has no family and relatives to leave the money to. Taking into consideration my-no-knowledge of scams, who would not fall for that? Mirriam, that was her scam name, sent me phone numbers and addresses where I can reach her solicitor.

I e-mailed the solicitor and he said that I need to forward my personal details and about $15,000 for processing and transfer fees. The large amount of fees set me thinking. I became wary and I asked my cousin who is a lawyer. He said that the scam is commonly known as Nigerian 419 which started (through slow mail) in the early 80's. Poof! goes my $48 M.

There are so many scam programs in the net today. There are MLMs, affiliate marketing, money randomizer and cycler, surf sites, pay per click or view and others. Be wary. Practice diligence.