Lottery Scams: You Have Won One Million Dollars!

Have you received an email that confirmed your winning a prize or a lottery?

I received an email saying that I had won a gift certificate for if I remember correctly, $1,000. worth of merchandise. The difference between that email which I did not believe and the type considered a scam was that I had actually entered the contest to win. In a scam email, you never even entered the lottery or sweepstakes, so how did you win without having entered?

I remember seeing Irish Sweepstakes Tickets when I was a child being secretly exchanged between adults. They were supposed to be illegal being from another country and being sold in the US. I remember wondering how a person could possibly know if they won being so far away and how if they did would they ever get paid. Those days were long before lotteries were made legal in the USA as well as long before the Internet came along. However they managed to conduct International Lotteries at that time, I thought it was a lost cause.

These days you don't even have a ticket to hold. An email arrives that says you have won. Those who receive the email that says they are the winner, being so happy to win, don't consider that this win is something out of the blue. They never even entered a contest! Now, where is the scam? Your personal information and banking information are needed in order to send the money to you. In one version of the scam, you are going to have to pay taxes on the money before it is sent to you. Just send the money for the taxes to this person in Canada or England by Western Union.

Here is one of my winning emails received!

UNITED KINGDOM IN COLABRATION WITH GOLD MINING COMPANY.
LONDON MILLION INT & NATIONAL LOTTERY PROMOTION
OUAGADOUGOU BURKINA FASO,12th AVENUE KWAME NKRUMAH 01 BP .
WINNER- REF: LP/26510460037/03.
BATCH: 24/00319/IPE

www.acculotto.com

WINNING/AWARD FINAL NOTIFICATION

It is our pleasure to inform you of the declaration and of winners of the LONDON MILLION INT LOTTERY AWARD held on 18May2007. Having picked your mail address by our electronic web site visitors collectors in-recognition of your patronage to the Internet services.