The latest example uncovered purports to have been sent by the promotions manager of the South Africa World Cup Lottery 2010. Recipients are informed in an attachment that their e-mail addresses have been randomly selected by a specially designed computer program and that they have won US$2.5 million.
To add further legitimacy, the scammers claim the lottery is sponsored by the South African Football Association and, like many other scams, urge recipients to keep news of their windfall private for security reasons. Naturally that august body has no knowledge of the scheme.
Symantec’s Paul Wood says while at first glance this scam may appear credible, with official-looking logos, reference numbers and the like, a dead giveaway is the poor grammar. Woods adds that also, on closer inspection, while this scam claims to be from the South Africa World Cup Lottery, it uses the logo of the United Kingdom National Lottery. Tempting indeed!
Woods says it’s hard to believe that anyone would fall for such a transparent scam, but the growing incidence leads one to believe otherwise. It’s a known fact that victims often remain mum out of sheer embarrassment.
Symantec researchers have discovered a new 2010 World Cup Lottery scam that demonstrates a new level of absurdity from online scammers.
