by CatsAreGood
Sun May 10, 2009 12:45 am
Usually I lurk over at 419 Eater, amusing myself reading about the hoops that various baiters make their current pets jump through. My personal email account generally catches most scam letters, sending them unread to the big electronic trash bin (although the ones selling Viagra manage to get through...go fig). However, on occassion I "win" the Spanish Lottery (and, once, the Russian lottery) via snail mail.
The latest letter I would have simply tossed, unopened, as at first it resembled the various "free credit report!" and "new credit card!" junk mail I receive. You know, the ones that invariably have no return address on them. However, the Canadian post mark caught my eye, and so I opened the letter....
It seems I have won the International Lottery! Horray!
To claim my $420,000 (FOUR HUNDRED AND TWENTY THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS), I only have to cash the $1420 cheque that was sent in the mail...and then send the "Global Security Company" processing company $860. Hmmm...a bargain, no???? 
If there is interest, I can scan the letter, cheque, and envelope. For those who keep score, the cheque appears to have been printed on actual cheque paper, including the reflective watermarks on back, microprint, and the works. Heck, the printing is better than the /real/ cheque I received from my insurance company following a car accident (other driver at fault, not me...). It also is drawing upon a real bank [Bank of Jackson Hole]; and the company "issuing" the cheque is a real company [Snow King, Inc. - a ski resort]. Both are obviously non-scamming third parties; and I plan on contacting them come Monday.
For those who might want to know red flags for this scam (beyond the fact that I apparently won money from a lottery I never entered), here they are:
1. The two "authorized signatures" on the cheque and the one on the cover letter are all done by the same hand.
2. Numbers are spelled out, and in capitals [e.g., $2,940,000.00 - TWO MILLION NINE HUNDRED AND FOURTY THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS] and [7 (Seven)].
3. Formating - block paragraphs, as would be expected on a business letter. However, to make the letter fit on one page, the final four or so paragraphs do not have return space-lines between them.
4. Telephone number that is not toll-free
5. "Processing fees" upon the cheque that was sent
6. Asking the recipient to "keep quiet"
7. Exclamation points, some grammer that doesn't quite compute, and a few scammer-ish unnecessary capitalizations.
8. Canadian post mark with US drawn cheque enclosed
However, for those who are unaware of these lottery scams, and especially those who really need money in these difficult economic times, this could easily take them in.
The latest letter I would have simply tossed, unopened, as at first it resembled the various "free credit report!" and "new credit card!" junk mail I receive. You know, the ones that invariably have no return address on them. However, the Canadian post mark caught my eye, and so I opened the letter....
It seems I have won the International Lottery! Horray!
To claim my $420,000 (FOUR HUNDRED AND TWENTY THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS), I only have to cash the $1420 cheque that was sent in the mail...and then send the "Global Security Company" processing company $860. Hmmm...a bargain, no???? If there is interest, I can scan the letter, cheque, and envelope. For those who keep score, the cheque appears to have been printed on actual cheque paper, including the reflective watermarks on back, microprint, and the works. Heck, the printing is better than the /real/ cheque I received from my insurance company following a car accident (other driver at fault, not me...). It also is drawing upon a real bank [Bank of Jackson Hole]; and the company "issuing" the cheque is a real company [Snow King, Inc. - a ski resort]. Both are obviously non-scamming third parties; and I plan on contacting them come Monday.
For those who might want to know red flags for this scam (beyond the fact that I apparently won money from a lottery I never entered), here they are:
1. The two "authorized signatures" on the cheque and the one on the cover letter are all done by the same hand.
2. Numbers are spelled out, and in capitals [e.g., $2,940,000.00 - TWO MILLION NINE HUNDRED AND FOURTY THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS] and [7 (Seven)].
3. Formating - block paragraphs, as would be expected on a business letter. However, to make the letter fit on one page, the final four or so paragraphs do not have return space-lines between them.
4. Telephone number that is not toll-free
5. "Processing fees" upon the cheque that was sent
6. Asking the recipient to "keep quiet"
7. Exclamation points, some grammer that doesn't quite compute, and a few scammer-ish unnecessary capitalizations.
8. Canadian post mark with US drawn cheque enclosed
However, for those who are unaware of these lottery scams, and especially those who really need money in these difficult economic times, this could easily take them in.
