Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Did I really win $615,810.00?

This is topic Did I really win $615,810.00? in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 04-21-2004, 02:14 PM:

Does anyone know anything about the EL GORDO LOTERIA PRIMITIVA lottery? They are based in Madrid Spain and I just received in a official looking letter with an actual signed signature notifying me that I had won $615.810.00. I do not know how I had won because I never bought any tickets or entered any drawing for the prize and I do not know how they had heard of me and got my address. This is what the letter said on how the winners were selected ---"All participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from 25,00 names from Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Europe America and North America as part of our International promotions program which we conduct once every year. We hope your lucky name will draw a bigger cash prize in the the next year's highstake USD 1.3 Billion inter lottery"---
The letter informed me that I had until May 4th to redeem my cash prize by sending by FAX the lottery payment form with the usual information about myself such as name, address telephone/FAX numbers date of birth, marital status and occupation. According to the letter regarding payment option, it said-- Payment option of your choice should be specified to the claims department for processing"-- . It also stated--- If funds are to be remited through bank wire transfer, please complet the following.
Bank Name__, Bank Account Number___, Bank Address___, City__, State___, Zip Code__, Bank Telephone__, FAX___ "

I could use the money and the 'greedy part' of me is telling me to respond but the 'Cautious' side is telling me to forget about it because if I provide them with my bank information, it will be almost like inviting a fox free entry into a hen's house where the people in Spain could take money out of my bank account instead of depositing the prize money. . I am taking the cautious side and do not plan to respond. If you were me, what would you do? By the way, there were three misspelled words in the letter. They used 'REMITED"' instead of REMITTED". Highstake" instead of HIGH STAKE" and COMPLET instead of Complete. This is another reason I am not responding.

-Claude

Posted by Christopher Duvall (Member # 284) on 04-21-2004, 02:23 PM:

Throw it away. It screams of scam. They just want your bank account information to drain it.

Posted by Robert Stawiarski (Member # 1842) on 04-21-2004, 02:23 PM:

Here's a description of a very similar scam:
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/scams/lottery.htm

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 04-21-2004, 02:31 PM:

No bank or any other business will ever ask YOU for your account number unless you initiate the transaction yourself. There is NEVER a good reason to give your account numbers out unless you started the process.

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 04-21-2004, 02:41 PM:

Robert,

The link you provided had a letter that was almost word for word what was in the letter I had received from Madrid. The only good thing I got out of this letter from Spain was a very pretty cancelled postage stamp I can give to a friend of mine who collects stamps. [Smile]

-Claude

Posted by Floyd Justin Newton (Member # 1316) on 04-21-2004, 02:46 PM:

Claude--

It says,"scam, SCAM, SCAM..... SCREW!!!"
[Mad]

fjn
Local 294 Ret.

Posted by Ken Layton (Member # 133) on 04-21-2004, 06:10 PM:

It is indeed a scam.

Sometimes the wording of it will say, "due to a mix-up of some names we require your bank information to be sure you get your money" or something to that effect

Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 04-21-2004, 06:58 PM:

This is just another form of identity theft.

Posted by David Favel (Member # 1125) on 04-21-2004, 06:59 PM:

There are some very clever e-mails that direct you to a look alike of a bank log-in.

Beware.

Posted by Robert Stawiarski (Member # 1842) on 04-21-2004, 07:10 PM:

The most common scams I see are: the lottery (like this post), Nigerian, Paypal (phony account verify), and eBay (either a phony "question from seller e-mail" or account verification.) Be cautious of any and all e-mails that ask for personal info. Snopes.com is a good source to check out scams as well.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 04-22-2004, 01:41 AM:

Whenever I get one of these 'phishing' emails I always go to their site (blocking all cookies, scripts and the like) and enter junk card or bank account data. I figure that if enough people do that, then multiple attempts from the same source to drain non-existant accounts will alert the authorities to these criminals, and possibly help to catch them.

Posted by Jeremy Fuentes (Member # 2135) on 04-22-2004, 06:10 AM:

Congratulations Claude. [thumbsup]

Posted by John Walsh (Member # 168) on 04-22-2004, 07:10 AM:

Claude, you seem like a very nice person, so I have a special deal for you. It's a bridge in Brooklyn, and if you buy it, you could charge people a toll to cross it and make a ..... wait, there's a knock on my door.. it's a policeman ... er, well, I have to go now, but think about my offer and I call you in call you in 3 to 5 years .... [Smile]

Posted by David Favel (Member # 1125) on 04-22-2004, 06:55 PM:

Beat you, I have 10 million coming to me soon!!

Dear Beloved in Christ,
It is by the grace of God that I received Christ,
knowing the truth and the truth have set me free.
Having known the truth, I had no choice than to do
what is lawful and right in the sight of God for
eternal life and in the sight of man for witness of
God´s mercy and glory upon my life.
I have the pleasure to share my testimony with you,
having seen your contact from the Internet. I am
Barrister PAUL ELELE, the legal adviser to late Mr. and Mrs. Bright Williams, a British couple that lived in my Country Nigeria for 25 years before they both died in a plane crash late last year. These couples were good Christians, they where so dedicated to God but they had no child till they died. Throughout their
stay in my country, they acquired a lot of properties
like lands, house properties, etc.
As their legal adviser, before their death, the
husband Mr. Bright Williams instructed me to write his
WILL. Because they had no child, they dedicated their
wealth to God. According to the WILL, the properties
have to be sold and the money be given out to a
ministry for the work of God. As their legal adviser,
all the documents for the properties were in my care.
He gave me the authority to sell the properties and
give out the fund to the Ministries for the work of
God.
In short, I sold all the properties after their death,
as instructed by Mr. Bright Williams before his death.
And as a matter of fact, after I sold all their
properties, I realized more than $10,000,000.00 (Ten
million US dollars plus), and what supposed to be the
percentage interest of my right legal fee was firstly
deducted by me out of the total amount realized from
the sold properties, this was base on the initial
agreement between me and the owner of the properties
before his death. Therefore the total amount left to
be invested into God's work as instructed by the
owner, is US$10.76 MILLIONonly.
But Instead of giving the main fund out for the
work of God as instructed to me by the owner before
his death. I converted the fund to myself with the
intention of investing the fund abroad for my personal
use. I was afraid of putting the fund in the Bank,
because I have to give account to the bank on how I
got the money. I then packaged the fund in
consignments and deposited the consignments with a
security company. I did not want the management of the
Security Company to know the content of the
consignments, therefore I registered the content of
the consignments as Gold Bars. Now, the security
company believes that what I deposited with them was
Gold Bars.
I had encounter with Christ when Pastor Benny Hinn was
preaching on television concerning Ananias and Saphira
in Acts 5:1-11. After hearing the word of God, I gave
my life to Christ and became a born again Christian.
As a born again Christian, I have asked God for forgiveness and I know that God
have forgiven me. But I have to do what is lawful and
right in the sight of God by giving out the fund to
the chosen ministry for the purpose of God's work as
instructed by the owner before his death.
After my fasting and prayers, I asked God to make his
choice and direct me to a honest Christian or the
chosen ministry that deserves this fund by his Grace.
I then came across your address on the Internet as I
was browsing through a Christian site, and as a matter
of fact, it is not only you or your ministry that I
picked on the Christian site initially, but after my
fervent prayer over it, you were nominated to me
through divine revelation from God, so these are how I
received such a divine revelation from the Lord, how I
got your contact information, and I then decided to
contact you for the fund to be used wisely for things
that will glorify the name of God.
I have notified the Security Company where I deposited
the consignments that contained the fund, that I am
moving the consignment abroad and the security company
has since been waiting for my authority for the
consignment to leave my country and move to abroad.
if you know that you will use this fund honestly
and wisely for things that will glorify God's name,
then do contact me back first through this my email
address.
You should also forward to me your telephone and fax
number for easy communication.
Your prompt response will be highly appreciated.
Yours in Christ.
Barrister PAUL

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 04-23-2004, 12:05 PM:

Maybe now you could buy the Waikiki 1 & 2 & 3! [Big Grin]

Too bad its a scam. [Frown]

You should send them a letter anyway, saying that if they have your name they should just mail you a check because you don't trust direct deposit. Hell, I don't even have my tax return direct deposited!!

=TMP=

Posted by David Favel (Member # 1125) on 04-25-2004, 05:21 AM:

Or just send Thomas's details

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 04-25-2004, 01:09 PM:

You know my bank account number?? Awesome!! Please tell me.

I've been trying to get my money out of there for years.

=TMP=