E-mail scams make users lose before ‘winning'
By Rosli Abidin Yahya 

Locals were amongst the people who received spam e-mails purportedly stating that they had won the "De Lotto Netherlands Lottery" to the tune of US$800,000. However, they were sceptical about it, as the lottery scam had been widely reported in various countries all over the world.

A local man said he received such notification stating that he was a third-prize winner of the lottery which dished out a total prize of US$13,600,000.

"Yes I am happy to win a lottery draw but the reality was that I had never purchased any lottery tickets," he said.

The email also stated that the prize money would be shared amongst the 17 international winners from places such as the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Canada, Europe and North America purportedly as part of the establishment's annual international promotions programme.

"Your fund is now deposited and insured with Financial Trust Group, a security house. Due to the mix-up of some numbers and names, we ask you keep this award strictly from public notice until your claim has been processed and your money remitted to your account.

"This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming or unscrupulous acts by participants of the programme.

"We hope with a part of your prize, you will participate in our end-of-year high stakes of US$1.3 billion international lottery," the email stated.

The email also gave the name of the person at the Trust Group, Thompson Selleck and an email address to reply to.

Out of curiosity the victim wrote to the person and when he received a reply then he realised it was yet again another scam to siphon money from gullible people.

"In order to claim the winning, I have to pay a fee of 4,968 Euro to cover transfer and handling charges.

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin