What email scam is this?

September 27, 2006 7:59 PM

What email scam is this?

I just got the following in my inbox. Obviously it's a scam, nobody hands out 2M for nothing, but it seems very innocuous at this stage. How do they make money from it? Is it jsut testing my email address to make sure it's live?

Also, if anyone speaks Dutch, maybe they could forward the below to the Dutch lotto authority?

International Program
to undisclosed-re.

INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM NL
Hoornwijck 55
2289 DG Rijswijk
Website:www.lottor.net


You Have won the sum of 2, 000.000.00euros


Dear Lucky Winner,

INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM PROMOTION PRIZE AWARDS WINNING NOTIFICATION

After a successful completion of the second category draws of Lottery Program, International Promotion, You have emerged one of the winners of the, Lottery Program
, which is part of our promotional draws. Participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from 30,000 email addresses of individuals and companies from
America, Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe, Middle East, and New Zealand, as part of our International Promotions Program.

As a category B winner, you have been picked by a computer balloting system, where only email addresses are selected, from a total numbers of 30,000 email addresses, drawn from all over the globe. After an automated computer ballot of our International Promotions Program consequently won in the second Category.
-----------------------------------------------------------
You email address was attached to.
Ref Number: JPQ 910291/ES 976
Batch Number: JPQ 297495-ZNG/2006
Ticket Number: JSQ 5172 97120
Security File Number: 7029
-----------------------------------------------------------

You as well as the other winner are therefore to receive a cash prize of 2, 000.000.00euros. (Two Million Euros Only.) each from the total payout.
Your prize award has been insured with your e-mail address and will be transferred to you upon meeting our requirements, statutory obligations, verifications, validations
and satisfactory report.

To file in for the processing of your prize winnings, you are advised to contact our Licensed and Accredited Claims Agent for category "B" winners with the information below:

Mr. Mark Hansen,
Remittance Department Director,
International Program,
Laan van Hoornwijck 55
2289 DG Rijswijk
TEL: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]
Website:www.lottor.net


Provide him with the following details, as this will enable him to start the processing of your claim.

Name:
Tel Number:
Nationality:
Ref Number:
Batch Number:
Ticket/Lucky Number:
Security File Number

NOTE: All winnings must be claimed not later than (6 October 2006) there after unclaimed funds would
be included in the next stake. Remember to quote your reference information in all correspondence.

You are to keep all lotto information confidential, especially your reference and ticket numbers.
(This is important as a case of double claims will not be entertained). Members of the affiliate agencies are automatically not allowed to participate in this program.


Thank you and congratulations.

Yours faithfully,

Mrs. Joyce Franke
Co-coordinator .



********************************************************************************
De inhoud van dit email bericht bereikt u via Internet. Het is derhalve niet uitgesloten dat onbevoegden hiervan kennis hebben genomen of de verzonden informatie hebben gemanipuleerd. Voordat enige handeling wordt ondernomen of nagelaten op basis van bovenvermelde informatie moet de inhoud van dit bericht te allen tijde geverifieerd worden.
Het emailverkeer via internet garandeert geen ertrouwelijkheid.
Vertrouwelijke informatie dient niet via Internet aan AZL te worden verzonden.
AZL kan niet aansprakelijk worden gehouden voor eventuele gevolgen van het gebruik voortvloeiend uit het gebruik van externe email via Internet.

Van toepassing zijn de Algemene Voorwaarden AZL, gedeponeerd ter griffie van de Rechtbank Maastricht en gepubliceerd op de website www.lottor.net.
********************************************************************************

posted by wilful to Computers & Internet (9 answers total)

The scam is that you have to pay a fee or "taxes" to get the money.
posted by MegoSteve at 8:05 PM on September 27, 2006

Take your pick:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=lotto+scam&btnG=Google+Search
posted by procrastination at 8:08 PM on September 27, 2006

A slight variation on the 419 scam?

(oh, and congratulations!)
posted by pompomtom at 8:10 PM on September 27, 2006 [1 favorite]

A very, very standard "You won, now pay the transfer fee, taxes, etc. to collect!" scam. For some reason I get about three of these a week. If any of them were true I'd not be posting here and instead be on a south pacific beach getting a backrub by three lithe island women.
posted by Kickstart70 at 8:29 PM on September 27, 2006

I work at a web host, and coincidentally I came across the inbox of a 419 scammer today. It's pretty standard, first they'll ask for a scan of your passport and the account and routing numbers of your bank account so that they can "transfer the funds" to you. They'll save this info for later, next the fees will start. They'll begin relatively small, maybe $1000, and keep demanding more as long as you pay. Finally they'll use the personal information you initially sent for identity theft and buy as much stuff and open as many lines of credit as they can in your name.

You'd be surprised at how many people will send a copy of their passport and their life savings to a total stranger. Greed is an ugly thing.
posted by TungstenChef at 9:22 PM on September 27, 2006

"You'd be surprised at how many people will send a copy of their passport and their life savings to a total stranger. Greed is an ugly thing."

Greed? That sounds more like stupidity.
posted by davy at 11:46 PM on September 27, 2006

I would guess more along the lines of an information seller -- if you send, say for instance, an email to the contact with the information they requested, your info could be sold to a mailing list of "people who respond to internat'l lotto adverts" or "give out their details at the drop of a hat", making you a potential recipient of oodles more of the same thing.
posted by vanoakenfold at 3:25 AM on September 28, 2006

In case you think nobody is still dumb enough to fall for these scams, this (by coincidence) was in the latest report from the crime prevention unit in our Sheriff's Department. Yes, people are still that dumb:

Wednesday, September 13, 2006 – Wednesday, September 20, 2006 GRAND LARCENY/ FALSE PRETENSE (PHONE LOTTERY SCAM) JOYCE ST DELTA/ EASTERN VIEW Complainant advised that she received a phone call informing her she won a $2.5 million lottery, but needed to send the caller $2,000 to get her money. When she advised she only had $120, he said he would take it and put her on a budget plan. She wired the money to Jamaica. He called back, saying someone else picked up the money, and had her send $500 more that she took from her husband’s briefcase. He again said someone else got the money, saying she needed to send more if she wanted to get her original money back. She ended up pawning jewelry for $1,000 she sent to him; he then demanded $2,000. She then began getting calls from different men advising her house was bugged and being watched and if she wanted to see her husband again, she needed to pay the money. One of the calls was from someone reporting to be a detective who wanted to see who was picking up the money and she should send more so he could arrest them.
posted by 543DoublePlay at 5:03 AM on September 28, 2006

Here's what I really don't understand about these scams: even if you write back and tell them you're interested, they usually don't answer.

I wrote back to almost two dozen nigerian-style s[cp]ammers over the last month, saying how delighted I was to have this opportunity, etc etc. Not a single one wrote back to me.

So ... what gives?
posted by dmd at 9:33 AM on September 28, 2006