Tata my money - Tata my chance
Nearly two months have passed since the South African National Lottery held its last draw. With legal wrangles likely to delay its return for a number of months, we trust that the millions of regular Lotto players are enjoying spending the extra R30 a week that the Lotto's absence has freed up.
We always found it ironic that the National Lottery advertised with the slogan "Tata my money, Tata my chance." After all, the word tata in the Afrikaans vernacular means 'goodbye'.
Unfortunately there are more dangerous 'lotteries' in operation around the world today. These are the so-called Internet lottery scams. While there are dozens of versions of this scam in operation, the modus operandi remains the same.
First, you are notified by email that your 'ticket' is a winning ticket in ABC Lottery. To claim your prize, usually a few hundred thousand dollars or pounds, you have to contact the prize office. The prize office is almost always in a foreign country, and reference is always made to a 'prize agent' who has been personally appointed to handle your prize claim. Upon contacting the prize agent, you are asked to provide reams of personal information before the real game begins.
The prize agent requests that you make various payments to facilitate the transfer of the prize money to your account. Of course, the lottery and prize never existed, and any payments you make to this agent will never be seen again.
How can something this unbelievable be true?
The latest in this line of scam was forwarded to us by one of our readers. It is a clever digression from the usual lottery scam in that it claims to be a Sweepstake operated jointly by Microsoft and AOL.
Of course, neither of these companies is in the business of running lotteries. Microsoft, for those of you who do not know, is a global software giant. AOL is a Web-based business that operates one of the leading Instant Messaging networks in the United States. These companies are not in the business of running mystery Sweepstakes or lotteries, in much the same way as they are not behind the various Internet chain letters promising cash in exchange for ten email addresses.
The contents of the letter sow plenty of doubt. How did they get my email address to send me notification? How can I win 750, 000 pounds if I did not enter a competition? Why are there so many grammatical errors?
To quell the doubt, the perpetrators throw AOL and Microsoft into the mix. They even go so far as to include company logos in the email. By using names that people trust, the con-artists ensure that more individuals fall for the scam.
Common sense must prevail
To avoid falling for similar scams you need to let commonsense prevail. Winning a lottery is an almost insurmountable challenge - winning one that you have not entered is a first level miracle. It will never happen.
Other warnings to look out for are requests for you to pay money to receive your prize. Where have you ever heard of being charged to accept a prize? If someone is transferring a fortune to your account and there are fees to be paid, they can simply withhold the fees from your winnings.
People who operate financial scams are in the business of self enrichments. They know that the best mechanism for success is to prey on the ordinary mans desire for instant wealth. There is no such thing as 'getting rich quick' or 'easy money'.
Treat any opportunity that rewards you financially for doing nothing with the utmost suspicion. You are not a charity, and as such you are unlikely to be the beneficiary of piles of unearned cash.
Editor's thoughts:
South Africa has more than its fair share of Casinos, and until recently also ran a National Lottery. Can many of the financial scandals witnessed in the country of late be attributed to our propensity to gamble? Send your comments to [email protected]
