Sick Email Lottery Scam

Scams will be around for years to come, if not to the end of time. Seemingly natural, some people think they are smarter than others and try to take advantage of their gullibility. Truth be told, they often are, but that doesn’t give them the right to benefit from their victims’ lack of experience in Internet affairs.

The latest scam found by security firm Sophos takes advantage of the good name aid agency Oxfam has built throughout the years by its actions and tells the recipients of the email that they’ve won a lottery run by the company. "Oxfam Grant/Donation Award 2008!!!!!!!," is the subject line of the message being sent. "Your Email was selected from your country's chambers of commerce and you have been confirmed as one of The lucky recipients of this year's donation programme. You are also entitled to the sum of EIGHT HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND POUNDS STERLING (£850,000.00) as charity donations/aid from the Oxfam GB (UK) International donation scheme," it continues.

The message asks recipients to reply for additional information on the win and how the money will be transferred. It redirects those willing to give it a try to a live.com address, and most important, provides a UK telephone number beginning with 070. Why is that important, you ask? Because it has been proven that these numbers are frequently used by lottery scammers who can redirect calls using the system to any phone number in the world, as Web User reports.

"Oxfam is one of the world's most respected aid agencies, fighting famine around the globe. But the sick people behind this scam don't seem to have any qualms about bringing the charity's name into disrepute," Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos, said, while trying to point out that Oxfam is not responsible in any way for the messages.

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