Fortune for ‘lucky’ Lisa!

Jul 29 2008 by Our Correspondent, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

LISA O’Brien was pleased but surprised to receive an email saying she had won £546,480 on the E-Lottery.

The what Lottery?

Then Lisa realised it was probably a scam and sent it to me.

“It just goes to show how many people can be sucked in by these parasites,” she said.

Quite right, too. Lots of people are fooled every year by scams like this.

The email purports to come from a private address in Cheadle. It says Lisa won because her email address was chosen at random.

Strange, that. As far as I know, there isn’t a list of email addresses from which anyone can be chosen at random.

The email is poorly written and littered with grammatical mistakes.

Still, when someone tells you there is half a million quid waiting for collection why should you worry?

Because it is an indication that someone is trying to scam you.

A check on the internet shows that this particular con trick is also widespread in Australia and America.

Thousands of people are contacted each day and it only takes one to bite and the scammers are in profit.

On Lisa’s behalf (but not using her name) I’ve sent the E-Lottery Company a message of my own, asking for an explanation.

I’m not holding my breath for a reply.