what the... spam!

[thefool]

Dear Internet User.
We are happy to inform you that your email address have emerged winner of (EUR
750,000) in Europe Lottery Award.

The online cyber draws was conducted from an exclusive list of 500,000 email
addresses of individuals and corporate bodies picked by an advanced automated
random computer selection from the web. No tickets were sold.

Your email address is attached to Ref No: ESM/WIN/008/05/10/MA & Batch
No:EULO/2907/444/908/06; Serial No: 45407; and PROMOTION DATE: 15th Jan. 2008.

Bear in mind that prizes will strictly be remitted to winners that officially
file in for their claim within the given time frame. To begin your claim, you
are advised to immediately contact our accredited claim agent with the details
below.

AURA SEGUROS S. A
Contact Person: Mr. Mario Alberto
Tel: +34-693-107-282
Email: contactaura@aim.com / auraseguros@hotmail.com

Your prize award has been insured with your email address and will be
transferred to you upon meeting the requirement of the gaming board authority
which includes your statutory obligations.

Best Regards,
Mrs. F. Transofa
(Lottery co-ordinator).
Madrid, 31st January 2008

Note: All Won Prize must Be claimed/ Cleared not later than 15th of Feb. 2008.
After this date, all other winnings will considered as UNCLAIMED and returned to
ministerio de Economia Y Hacienda.









Jumbo Mail è il servizio di Libero Mail che permette di allegare grossi file, fino a 2GB, senza problemi di superamento dei limiti delle normali caselle e-mail.

http://liberomail.libero.it/jumbomail.phtml

oh an an "advanced automated random computer selection from the web."
And they use aim & hotmail adresses? Ok i'll send you my bank account info right away mr

[Fou-Lu]

I used to get one of these per week.

I don't understand why they keep on sending emails like these. Why would someone give a prize to random person without selling tickets or making any advertisement? I wonder who would be stupid enough to believe.

But what if you give your account number? They wouldn't be able to take any money from there without your password...

[thefool]

I don't exactly know what they want thats true

[Rook Zimbabwe]

I say forward it to Interpol and let them claim it for you!

[garretthylltun]

I received a postal mail saying I won the Australian Lottery... contents of the letter were pretty much the same as the one you noted. As well, another friend of mine receive the same postal mail as me! LOL

I can't believe scammers are still trying such things. Somebody must still be falling for these things out there.

[thefool]

I say forward it to Interpol and let them claim it for you!

I could use 750 000€ of course.
I doubt anything would happen though

I can't believe scammers are still trying such things. Somebody must still be falling for these things out there.

No, but they buy lessons in writing such emails by somebody who claims to have earned money on it. And THEY win
(but ok i know people who actually thought they won something. So surely, some must be falling for it)

[srod]

I have a friend who works as a programmer for a large building society and he tells me that a hell of a lot of people still fall for the scam e-mails which pretend to be from the building society etc. People still enter all of their account info without thinking and wonder where all of their money has gone some 10 minutes later?

I find it unbelievable that anyone can fall for that!

[thefool]

they should start using their heads

[Tipperton]

I wonder who would be stupid enough to believe.

Somebody must still be falling for these things out there.

I find it unbelievable that anyone can fall for that!

The answer is quite simple.

The scammers know that there are people out there that will let their greed override their common sense.

[pdwyer]

So someone just got some email addresses together and thought "I'm going to give one of these people 750k and choose that person at random to be fair"

I only know of two reasons to run a lotery and this is neither.

The first is to raise funds from tickets (but this is free)
The second is to advertise a prize and have people send their details in and then you build up an address list. Legally you must actually send the prize to someone and announce who won.

When I was first out of school I worked in a mail-order company (pre web days so no email back then) and they'd put an add in womens magazines and people would fill in the coupon and send it in and one would win the prise advertised and we had to run another ad to announce it but it built up our mailing list.

Could anyone look at this email and think "Hey! I won! and I didn't even buy a ticket!" :roll:

[citystate]

never underestimate the stupidity of people - they'll surprise you everytime

[thefool]

never underestimate the stupidity of people - they'll surprise you everytime

Its beginning to surprise me less and less heh

[pdwyer]

Make something idiot proof and they'll make a better idiot!

[srod]

I remember watching a documentary on the lottery scams and what generally happens is, when you've passed along your details, they write back to say that in order to release the funds you need to make a payment of, oh I dunno, perhaps a few hundred dollars or so.

For a time it was quite a successful scam. Whether people still fall for it I don't know? (srod keeps a close eye on thefool to see if he sends off a cheque for several hundred dollars... )

[thefool]