Lotto scams usually take place via e-mail. Messages with subject lines such as "Lucky Winner" notify recipients that they have won a large amount of money. The e-mail often includes a "unique" reference number and a phone number. When contacted, the scammers claim they need to collect information from the victim to ensure the prize is rightfully theirs. The confidential data taken from the victim is then used to drain bank accounts.
"We are seeing more and more scammers like this one be arrested, and it is high time that they pay the price for their greed," said Carole Theriault, senior security consultant at Sophos. "How many victims must have been conned for this thief to net USD $10 million? Let this serve as a wake up call for all computer users - before you start dreaming of spending the rest of your days lazing on a beach somewhere, make sure you verify all unsolicited e-mails for authenticity before replying. Otherwise, you might find yourself light in the pockets, not to mention frustrated that you got duped by one of the oldest scams in the book - fraud."
Scams involving e-mail include financial stock, also known as pump and dump, and 419 scams, all of which are designed to steal from the victims. Scams have pretended to come from National Lotto organizations to "Who wants to be a millionaire?" In one case, a single individual was scammed out of $1.5 million. Some scams have even threatened the recipients with death threats.
