How does it feel
to win millions of dollars through lottery ? Specially
when you never bought the lottery ticket or ever
heard about it before ?
Open your mailbox and whoa ! - the message informing
you of your good fortune is there. The subject
line looks like:
'Winning Notification' or 'Congratulations !
You are a lotto winner' or simply 'Notification'
Let that excitement not fudge your left brain
(logical thinking) - why should anyone in right
frame of mind offer you such huge sum ? And you
may not know - many others have received the same
message (or spam to be more exact) at the same
time.
The messages may be sent by different people,
from different continents and by different organizations
- but strangely the content remains same for all.
99% of people will reject the mail and reach
for 'Del' key - but there's 1% who may feel otherwise.
What is Internet Lottery Scam
It is a con game where fraudsters send false
messages through telephone, e-mail, fax or postal
mail, indicating the recipient has won major cash
prize. The message is so cleverly drafted and
makes such skillful use of established names and
Internet links of lawful lotteries - that even
an alert person can get confused.
How Does the Scam work
The modus operandi is very simple - the respondents
are asked to pay an up-front fee to secure the
release of the prize. Sometimes the prizes include
a series of lottery numbers with a chance to win
an expensive vehicle or vacation cruise. Typically,
persons who send money for these prizes never
receive them and, instead, receive only various
forms of entry confirmation issued by the con
artists.
Fraudsters use techniques similar to legitimate
lottery agents. They are courteous, well-spoken
and issue documents of genuine appearance.
These con artists have defrauded thousands of
people in Canada, USA, UK and many other European
countries.
What About Genuine Internet
Lotteries
I have already described how you stand to loose
from bogus lottery tickets. However, even if you
play a genuine lottery in the Internet - please
take note of following facts
- It's illegal to play a foreign lottery - through
the mail or on the telephone or Internet.
- You may be playing in the hands of unscrupulous
lottery agents. By buying just one foreign lottery
ticket, you've opened the door to many more
bogus offers for lottery or investment "opportunities."
Your name will be added to "sucker lists"
that fraudulent telemarketers buy and sell.
- Don't share your credit card and bank account
numbers. Scam artists often ask for them during
an unsolicited sales pitch, and then use them
to commit other frauds against you.
My advice - ignore all mail and phone solicitations
for foreign lottery promotions.
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