It looks like a catch, smells like a catch, but...

[Maestro]

Greetings ladies and gentlemen.

I just received this E-mail today. It looks like some "fishing", but unlike the other E-mails of that kind that I received, they are not asking for my credit card number. Here is the main part of it :

HERITAGE LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL,
UNITED KINGDOM.
GAMBLING BOARD OF GREAT BRITAIN
LICENSED. ONLINE BALLOT LOTTERY
(Registration 70339411).
REGISTERED UNDER THE DATA PROTECTION ACT.
HERITAGE LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL HEADQUARTERS.
P.O Box 1103
Asbury Street, Creek Road, Deptford, London SE8
Tel:+44(0)702 305 3577
REF NO: *********
BATCH: *********

ELECTRONIC MAIL AWARD WINNING NOTIFICATION. AWARD PRESENTATION
CENTER: UNITED KINGDOM
( NO TICKET SOLD) We are pleased to inform you of the announcement
today of winners of the HERITAGE MEGA JACKPOT LOTTERY WINNINGS
PROGRAMS held on 4TH DECEMBER 2006.Your company or your personal e-
mail address, is attached to winning number ***********, With
serial number *********,consequently won in the sixth lottery
category.

You are therefore been approved for lump sums pay out of GBP
£2,500,000.00 POUNDS in cash Credited to file REF NO: *********
and winning number ********* , this is from total prize
money of GBP £ 27,500,000.00 POUNDS,shared among the Twenty (5)
international winners in this category.

All participants were selected through our Microsoft computer ballot
system drawn form 21,000 Names, 3,000 names from each continent, as
part of International "E-MAIL" Promotions Program, for the Continues
use of E-mail.
The Heritage Lottery Promotions International UK (HLP) was set up by
Parliament in 1994 to give grants to a wide range of projects
involving the local, regional and national heritage of the United
Kingdom. We distribute a share of the money raised by the National
Lottery for Good Causes.

Your funds has been insured with your REF NO: ********* and
winning number *******. Your E-mail address should be used
in all correspondence with your claims officer,Please note that, you
are to contact your claims officer immediately,as we have already
spelled out to you the necessary procedures on how to claim Your
prize.

Please complete the form below with correct information and email
back to us with a return email. Looking forward
to your urgent reply.

THIS SHOULD BE COMPLETED BY THE BENEFICIARY OF THE STATED FUND, FOR
VERIFICATION BEFORE TRANSFER.

Full Name:

Residential Address:

Telephone/Fax:

Date of Birth:

Present Country:



Occupation:

Sex:


Marital Status:

The address of the sender is ukonlinehlottery@katewwdb.com and the address of my "claim officer" is info_customer_services@yahoo.co.uk .

I never registered for any lottery. So did anyone ever heard of it ?

[R-2800]

hmmmmm...... i don't know if i would trust it,then again it doesen't ask you for anything but your email address but..........i don't know..................

[lesofprimus]

There are too many grammatical errors for it to be genuine Maestro...

[Parmigiano]

When I receive something like that, either lottery, job offering etc. I just make a google search.

Here the first page for this...


HERITAGE LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL - Cerca con Google

[Maestro]

Lottery fraud ? Alright...

*Trash the E-mail.*

Thanks for your help, everyone. And thanks for the tip, Parmigiano.

[k9kiwi]

Maestro.

If it looks like it

And smells like it

It probably is.....

PS. My web servers have blocked 1,000s of emails from this portal address over the last couple of years. I recommend you block it in your email software. set it to IGNORE anything from the katewwdb.com mail adress.

[Gnomey]

Yep, I'd agree Kiwi. Any email that has the word lottery in it (or saying you have won x amount of money) is spam...

[FLYBOYJ]

I get those all the time - one from folks in the UK, another from folks in the Netherlands or Australia. When they come in at the same time from different places, I cut and paste them and respond back (i.e. I send a copy of the one from the UK to the guy from Australia and visa-versa) and ask "Hey do you guys know each other? Maybe it's your long lost brother."

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Yeah I get stuff like that all the time. I do the same and google it if I dont just go ahead and trash it. Sometimes I have found through googeling that if you open it there is a virus in it.

[Matt308]

Based upon the infamous Nigeria scam asking to deposit money in your account.

[the lancaster kicks ass]

man that's bogus as hell! you don't get anything for nothing........