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Scam: You've won a large sum of money in a foreign lottery you don't remember entering.
Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2002]
Origins: In the fall of 2002, the venerable Nigerian Scam (versions 
of which have defrauded the unwary since the 1920s and currently infest the Internet in the form of hundreds of variations of "Help me rescue a stranded fortune" pleas) took on a new coloration, that of
lottery winnings just waiting for the intended recipients to claim them. Folks suddenly began receiving
out-of-the-blue Each lottery e-mail is rich in detail about when and where the drawing was held, the lucky ticket numbers, how the fortunate person's or company's name had come to be included in the draw, who was to pay out the funds, the payer's phone and fax numbers plus his web site information, how much money is supposed to be coming, and just about anything else one could long for. At times all the "supporting" information is fashioned of whole cloth, but in other cases names of real lotteries and banks are invoked and look-alike web sites accessed through URLs similar to those of the real corporations or institutions are proffered by the con artists as proof of the scheme's being on the up-and-up. Things appear to check out, but only those blessed with unusually acute powers of observation notice those little shifts in detail, and not too many of them understand their
Versions of this fraud are too numerous to list because the ones running it change the names of the lotteries supposedly handing out the golden goodies and the backstories about why the lucky ones are suddenly in line to receive veritable boxcars of money for something they don't remember entering. Sometimes the names of real entities are invoked by those running these scams. One widespread version of the con asserts the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation is running the lottery and disbursing the funds to winners, yet as this denial posted to its web site indicates, it has nothing to do with any of this. Just as the more usual Nigerian scam uses the lure of big money to be had for little or no effort to hook the unwary, so too do the "lottery" versions first hypnotize the about-to-be-gulled with visions of rich windfalls in the offing before lowering the boom. Those who try to collect their "winnings" soon find themselves on the receiving end of
WE HAVE RECEIVED A FAX MESSAGE SENT TO THIS OFFICE THIS MORNING IN REGARDS TO YOUR CLAIMS AND DE LOTTO NETHERLANDS HAS GIVEN A GO AHEAD TO PROCESS YOUR CLAIMS BUT IN THE SHORTEST TIME WHICH IS TO ELAPSE BY 28TH OF NOVEMBER, 2002 AS AS EXTENSION TO THE AFOREMENTIONED DATE IN YOUR LETTER OF NOTIFICATION THEY HAVE SENT YOU EARLIER ON WHICH WAS STATED 20TH OF NOVEMBER 2002.
Expanded versions of the lottery con have the thieves sending checks to their victims for the full amount of their "winnings" but in the same breath telling them to remit a smaller named sum to an agency that handles the transfer, either for fees associated with preparation of the paperwork or to pay taxes associated with the win. But of course the large checks bounce, leaving the suckers out the value of the fees they mailed off to those running the con. Alternatively, checks for a smaller amount (usually a few thousand) are mailed to potential victims, along with the explanation that these funds are to cover the necessary fees the winners must pony up with. This form of the lottery con is an updated version of the "cashier check" scam. As in the original, the pigeons receive worthless checks from scam artists, deposit them into their own accounts, then wire the far smaller amounts requested to the crossroaders running the con.
YOU ARE ADVISED TO FILL AND SEND THE VERIFICATION FORM ATTACHED TO THIS MAIL BACK TO THIS OFFICE VIA FAX OR BY EMAIL TODAY. AS WE SPEAK MY ASSISTANT HAS STARTED PROCESSING YOUR PRIZE CLAIM CERTIFICATE WHICH WILL BE SENT IMMEDIATELY TRANSFER HAS BEEN EFFECTED. A COPY OF PAYMENT OF OUR CHARGES FOR PROCESSING OF YOUR PRIZE WINNING AND HANDLING CHARGES IS TO BE SENT ALONG WITH YOUR FILLED VERIFICATION FORM, UPON RECEIPT OF THESE REQUIREMENTS VIZ: FILLED VERIFICATION FORM AND CONFIRMATION OF PAYMENT OF THE REQUIRED FEE 4,968 EURO (FOUR THOUSAND NINE HUNDRED AND SIXTY EIGHT EURO) IT WILL TAKE ABOUT KNOWING FULLY WELL THAT YOU HAVE MINIMUM TIME AND WE HAVE TO WORK ALL THROUGH THE CLOCK TO SATISFY OUR CLIENTS SO THAT THEY WOULD HAVE CAUSE TO USE OUR SEVICES SOME OTHER TIME, I WOULD ADVICE YOU MAKE PAYMENT IMMEDIATELY INTO OUR LONDON BRANCH OFFICE VIA WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER WHICH WOULD BE FASTER TO CONFIRM YOUR PAYMENT, WITH THE DETAILS OF OUR ACCOUNT OFFICER IN LONDON AS STATED BELOW: NAME OF RECEIVER: MR. JOHN EDWARD ADDRESS OF RECEIVER: FIRST SECURITIES INC. 1 PATER NOSTER ROW, ST. PAULS LONDON EC 4M, UK. A CONFIRMATION OF PAYMENT SHOULD BE SENT TO THIS OFFICE VIA FAX OR AS AN EMAIL ATTACHMENT ALONG WITH YOUR FILLED VERIFICATION FORM IMMEDIATELY SO THAT WE CAN ACT EFFECTIVELY IN EFFECTING THE TRANSFER OF YOUR PRIZE WINNING. YOU CAN REACH ME ON MY PERSONAL STATELITE NUMBER: +8821646685846. I REMAIN, SINCERELY, EDWARD CLAPTON. FIRST SECURITIES INC. URL: www.firstsecurities.org.uk And yes, cashier's or certified checks can bounce. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) requires banks to make money from cashier's, certified, or teller's checks available in one to five days. Consequently, funds from checks that might not be good are often released into payees' accounts long before the checks have been honored by their issuing banks. High quality forgeries can be shuttled back and forth between banks for weeks before anyone catches on to their being worthless, by which time victims have long since sent off their own money to the con artists. No matter what form the scam takes, there are no lottery winnings waiting in the wings; there's naught but con men lurking back there tricking people into wiring "handling fees" directly into their accounts. The "lucky" winners scramble to pay the fees while the clock is ticking, and there are never any pots of gold at the end of their rainbows no matter how much they send or how quickly they send it. Just as in the more usual form of the This scam is run in the offline world too Especially of note are the repeated cautions to keep matters confidential until final payout is made, "as part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program by some participants." The thieves don't want news of false wins being trumpeted, lest the sound of it reach the real lottery people, who will wake the victims up to their being had, or the winners' friends, who will turn them on to this being a scam. The pigeons' keeping things quiet protects the grifters from being discovered before they've parted the gullible from the contents of their bank accounts. Barbara "silence is golden . . . for them" Mikkelson Additional information:  Prize Offers: You Don't Have to Pay to Play! (Federal Trade Commission)
More examples of the Foreign Lottery Scam
Last updated: 29 March 2007 Urban Legends Reference Pages © 1995-2008 by snopes.com. This material may not be reproduced without permission. snopes and the snopes.com logo are registered service marks of snopes.com. |
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