Yet another lottery e-mail scam in what seems to be a never-ending stream purporting to be from Canada has been detected by Symantec investigators. The latest from “Canada Lottery Soccer World Cup 2010 Promotional Draw” claims recipients have won US$940 000 in the creatively titled “Euro-Afro-American Sweepstake Lottery International Programs”.
According to Symantec’s Dan Bleaken, the dodgy e-mail has the subject “South Africa 2010 World Cup Promotion” and the sender is “Canadasouthafrica2010”.
“The attached pdf file (see screenshot below), ‘Winning Details’, refers to a lottery draw supposedly sponsored by the Canadian government, but, bizarrely, the recipient is asked to contact an agent in South Africa.
"Now is this legitimate government protocol? I don’t think so!”
As a further incentive, recipients are advised of forthcoming draws wherein they could stand a chance of winning an all expenses paid trip to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Says Bleaken: “Once again, recipients are advised to keep details of their windfall confidential for ‘security reasons’. This, of course, is just an attempt by the crooks to safeguard their scam.”