The cybercriminals named the CEO as being the company's online coordinator

May 2, 2012 13:31 GMT  ·  By

Facebook lotteries are not new and neither are scam emails that purport to come from the company’s founder Mark Zuckerberg, but now cybercriminals have combined the two in an attempt to dupe users into believing that they’ve won $1 million (760,000 EUR) as part of a sweepstakes.

TotalDefense informs that in this particular scheme, the fraudsters send out the emails to potential victims, after which they request certain amounts of money allegedly needed to complete the transaction.

Once the individual sends the money, most likely via Western Union or other untraceable payment method, he/she can be certain that it will never be recovered.

In order to avoid falling for such scams, users are advised not only to rely on their common sense when presented with such messages, but also to utilize software solutions designed to keep spam away.

Emails which bring news that sounds too good to be true are usually part of a malicious operation and should never be trusted. Also, an antivirus solution is recommended because in case the notification contains malevolent links or attachments, the software can usually detect them and appoint them as presenting a threat.

As you will see bellow, the cybercrooks haven’t even bothered to change the year to 2012 and Zuckerberg is named as being the “online coordinator for Facebook.”

Here’s how this particular email looks, in case you stumble upon it in your inbox:

Subject: Confirm the receipt of this message!!! Congratulations

This is to inform the bearer that You have won the sum of $1,000,000.00 (One Million US Dollars) OUR 2011 SWEEPSTAKES (Facebook Inc) This is a bonus to promote our users worldwide through this online lottery, which is fully based on electronic selection.

We hereby approve you a lump sum of of $1,000,000.00 (One Million US Dollars) in Cash Credit File – ILP/HW 47407/02 from the total cash prize for eight lucky winners in this category.

Simply contact your Fiduciary Agent Name Douglas Price on his email: [email protected]. Please quote your reference, batch and winning number which can be found on the top left corner of this notifications as well as your full name, address and telephone number to help locate your file easily.

Thank you for using www.facebook.com Yours faithfully, Mark Zuckerberg Online coordinator for Facebook Online lottery.