A little while ago I posted an email I got (spam) called BMW UK LOTTERY Esteemed Winner!!. Usually, I expect to receive such notices solely by email. But then I found a new "comment" here at Misinterpreted.org that wasn't filtered as spam. Wouldn't you know it, the subject was regarding a win in the BMW Lottery! But the weird part? It wasn't posted as a comment to my BMW Lottery post. It was a comment on a completely different post, Speedlinking – December 20, 2007!

Here's the full text:

[Begin Comment]

THE BMW AUTOMOBILE COMPANY, UK
2007 INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION,
CLAIMS DEPARTMENT.
22 Garden Close, Stamford,
Lincs, PE9 2YP, London
United Kingdom. Jenuary,2008.
REF NO:BMW:2551256003/23

Dear Winner,

This is to inform you that you have been selected for a cash prize of ã500,000.00 (Five hundred Thousand Great British pounds) and brand new BMW 3 Series Car in this year BMW LOTTERY PROGRAMME.
To claim your prize Contact the claim office with the under listed informations as soon as possible:
Name :
Address :
Country :
Age :
Sex :
Occupation :
Phone :
Fax :
==========================================
Fiduciary Claims Department (FCD),
Fred Verra
Email:bmwlottery88@yahoo.co.uk
=======================================
Please you are to provide him with the above listed details as soon as possible so he can begin with the processing of your prize winnings.

Regards,

Engr. Holland Burridge
Online Co-ordinator.

[End Comment]

It doesn't make any sense, does it? I mean, apart from happening in Jenuary! But seriously, why would the Online Co-ordinator inform the winner of a lottery in plain view of the public? "Everybody wins!" Maybe Engr. Holland Burridge figured I wouldn't approve the comment, and instead keep it to myself. If that were the case, Burridge would probably have been hoping that I took the message seriously, and that I would promptly provide my personal profile. Poor perfomance, Burridge!

Got this one yesterday:

[EMAIL START]

Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2008 17:11:32 -0600
From: "BMW UK LOTTERY"
Subject: Esteemed Winner!!

Esteemed Winner!!

This is to notify you that your email address has won the 2008 BMW
Sponsored
National Uk Lottery.
By this You have won the total cash prize of two million British Pounds
(2,000,000.00 GBP).

YOUR WINNING DETAILS
Ref No: CHN/2551256007/11
Batch No: 14/0017/IPD
serial No: GMLA2-003
Ticket No: 12033
Lucky No: 425448/7785

To file for claim please fill and return the form below stating your
aforementioned references.
1.Name:
2.Address:
3.Marital Status:
4.Occupation:
5.Age:
6.Sex:
7.Nationality:
8.Country Of Residence:
9.Telephone Number:
10.Fax Number:

To begin your claim, do file for the release of your winning by
contacting our
accredited agent:
NAME:David Cole
Email:bmwlottery@bmwlottery.net-info.org.uk
TELL:+44 704 570 8366
Fax:+448704711080.

Congratulations once more and thank you for being part of our
promotional
program.Note:
Anybody under the age of 18 is automatically disqualified.

Yours Faithfully
Mrs.Thessy Van Vart
Online Co-Ordinator

[EMAIL END]

I'm so lucky…

Wow, these guys are persistent! I got a message saying "VERIFY" on Monday, January 28. Yesterday, five days later, I received the "FINAL NOTICE." I can't believe how far they're willing to take the scam. It's just too bad the original owners of bsaenz@purdue.edu and bnesbitt@purdue.edu fell for it.

Here's the first email:

Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2008 02:17:36 -0500
From: "EDU ACCOUNT UPGRADE TEAM"
Subject: VERIFY YOUR EMAIL ACCOUNT NOW

VERIFY YOUR EMAIL ACCOUNT NOW

Dear Email Account Owner,This message is from our educational messaging
center
to all our email
account owners. We are currently upgrading our data base and e-mail
account
center. We are deleting all our email accounts to create more space for
new
accounts.

To prevent your account from closing you will have to update it below
so that we will know that it's a presently used account.

CONFIRM YOUR EMAIL IDENTITY BELOW

Email Address : ………. …..
EMAIL Password : …………….
Date of Birth : ……………..
Country or Territory : ……….

Warning!!! Account owner that refuses to update his or her account
within Seven days of receiving this warning will lose his or her
account
permanently.

Thank you for using our edu email!
Warning Code:VX2G99AAJ
Thanks,
Account Upgrade Team

[END EMAIL]

And the second:

Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2008 23:17:58 -0500
From: "EDU ACCOUNT UPGRADE TEAM"
Subject: FINAL VERIFICATION OF YOUR EMAIL ACCOUNT

VERIFY YOUR EMAIL ACCOUNT NOW

Dear Email Account Owner,

This message is from educational messaging center to all our email
account owners. We are currently upgrading our data base and e-mail
account
center. We are deleting all our edu email accounts to create more space
for new
accounts.

To prevent your edu account from closing you will have to update it
below
so that we will know that it's a presently used account.

We have been sending this notice to all our email account owners and
this is
the last notice/verification exercise.

CONFIRM YOUR EMAIL IDENTITY BELOW

Email Username : ………. …..
EMAIL Password : …………….
Date of Birth : ……………..
Country or Territory : ……….

Warning!!! Account owner that refuses to update his or her account
within Seven days of receiving this warning will lose his or her
account
permanently.

Thank you for using edu!
Warning Code:VX2G99AAJ
Thanks,
Edu Account Upgrade Team

[END EMAIL]

You'd think the warning code for a final notice would be different from the initial message, but nooo!

Continuing with the recent theme of spam, here's another which I got today:

From: "Skye Bank Nig Plc"
Subject: ATTN: BENEFICIARY
Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2008 11:19:10 +0200

ATTN: BENEFICIARY
MR. OBI DODO
UNITED NATIONS CRIME PREVENTION UNIT,
AFRICA CHAPTER.

I am delighted to inform you that the UNITED NATION CRIME PREVENTION
UNIT Management through the Office of the SKYE BANK GOVERNOR and other
bank directors have decided to call back all approved fund Payment
through offshore payment centers to the bank treasury following Interception
of the UNITED NATION CRIME PREVENTION UNIT AND WORLD BANK and have
concluded arrangements to pay you the sum of US$10.5m by cash through the
Diplomatic Agents who will bring the cash in a Machine sealed
consignment to you in the United States as my bank has temporarily stopped
further payment via wire transfer.

In this regards we are going to send your inheritance/contract payment
to you via our accredited Diplomatic Agent/shipping Company and we have
secured every needed document to cover the money. Note: The money is
coming on 2 security proof box. The box are sealed with synthetic nylon
seal and padded with machine. Please you don’t have to worry for
anything, as the Transaction is 100% risk free. The Boxes are coming with A
Diplomatic agent who will accompany the boxes to your house address.

Kindly re-confirm to me the followings:

Your Full Name.
Phone, Fax and Mobile.
Address.
Age and Marital Status.
Nearest airport

The Diplomatic Attached will travel with it. They will call you
immediately they arrive in your countries airport to your house. I hope you
understand me.

Note: The diplomat does not know the original contents of the boxes.
What l declared to them as the contents is Sensitive Photographic Film
Materials for security reasons. I did not declare money to them please.
If they call you and ask you the contents please tell them the same
thing Ok. You will secure the Diplomatic immunity clearance certificate and
the Certificate of fund ownership, without this two certificate, your
Payment fund will not be approve, can not be courier for this payment
season, the needed certificate will Make it pass every custom Checkpoint
all over the world without hitch.

Confirm the receipt of this message and re-send the requirements to me
immediately you receive this message. Please I need urgent reply
because the boxes are Schedule to live as soon as we hear from you. I will
try to contact you today again and attached the money as being taken to
the diplomat service company for delivering. You are to call/email me
for further directives.

Thanks
Yours Truly,
MR. OBI DODO
UNITED NATIONS CRIME PREVENTION UNIT,
AFRICA CHAPTER.

[End Email]

Got this today:

Subject: Attn: Client
From: "Thomas Green" <HMTCC2@web2mail.com>
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 15:58:18 +0100 (CET)

Her Majesty’s Terrorism Control Commission
Registered in England: 324/801 GB
London, United Kingdom
1: 02: 08

Attn: Client

Sir,
My Commission Her Majesty’s Terrorism Control Commission (HMTCC) has
been informed that you are in need of a Top Priority document,
depicting non-association with Terrorist financing and Money Laundering
matters. A requisite of any large inter-regional transfer over the tune of One
Hundred US dollars (US$100,000) as initiated by the World Global
Commission and the United Nations fight against terror and money laundering
around the Globe. It was brought to my notice by a Mr. McBride Bryan of
Nat West Bank, UK PLC, of the need for you to acquire this document to
expedite an outstanding payment requisite. Our sources have also
informed us that a company was indeed trying to acquire the said document at
the tune of Ten Thousand US dollars (US$10,000). If this information
be correct, then I would like to inform you that your search for the
highly sensitive document has reached a successful end.

Our Commission (HMTCC) is fully empowered and authorized to process
this document on your behalf, as long as your request is genuine and fully
verified by a UK based bank. According to Mr. McBride Bryan of Nat
West bank we were told that such verification has already been certified
and cleared by the bank. Nat West Bank UK PLC being a
World reputable bank is qualified to make such a certification. Based
on these recommendations, let me give you the total costing per quota
for the acquisition of this highly classified document. An issuance
charge is being reviewed presently and would be formally presented to you,
once an official invoice would be issued by the Revenue Department and
original copies would be dispatched to your bank account immediately,
while scanned copies would be sent to you for clarity and your review,
awaiting for your e-mail response and request for payment instructions
accordingly.

Thank you for your cooperation.
Yours truly,
Thomas Green
(Commissioned Representative)
—————————————————————————————————————
This message and any attachment are confidential and may be privileged
or otherwise protected from disclosure.If you are not the intended
recipient, please telephone or email the sender and delete this message and
any attachment from your system.If you are not the intended recipient
you must not copy this message or attachment or disclose the contents
to any other person.
Please consider the environmental impact before printing this document
and its attachment(s).Print black and white and double-sided where
possible.

ATTN:CLIENT

[END MESSAGE]

Check it out, y'all, privileged information!! Be careful of your environmental impact…

Let's see, as Gisele Bündchen, "the world's richest model" once asked, "Can I get that in euros?"

Last time I looked, one euro is worth $1.40 U.S. So, 2,490,000 euros = $3,486,000! Whoo!! Let's hope they honor my request.

The best part? I never even signed up! Just today I received word from Harvard, in the form of an email. Here it is:

From: "Donald Baldwin" <Hotlotto@camail.harvard.edu>
Subject: Hello!
To: [Blank]

Dear Winner,

Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) New Year Promo

This is a Re-Notification of your unclaimed winning which we ran on our automated computer ballot of most of our unclaimed winnings.Your e-mail address emerged as a winner in the unclaimed winnings category "Hot Ball: 16" with the following numbers attached Ref Number: PW 9590 ES 9414, Batch Number: 573881545-NL/2006 and Ticket draw Number: 2, 19, 22, 26, 32, You are therefore to receive a cash prize of $2.49 Million Million (TWO MILLION Four Hundred And NINETYThousand United States Dollars) from the total payout.

Your prize award has been insured with your e-mail address and will be transferred to you upon meeting our requirements,statutory obligations, verifications, validations and satisfactory report.

Draw Details:
Ref Number: PW 9590 ES 9414
Batch Number: 573881545-NL/2006
Ticket draw Number: 2, 19, 22, 26, 32,
"Hot Ball: 16" WINNER ONLY
Draw Date: Wed Jan 2 '08

To file in for the processing of your prize winnings, you are advised to contact our accredited claims agent above for immediate processing of your winning with the information below:

Claims Agent:-
Robert Smith
Email: musl0093@gmail.com

Name In Full,
Address In Full,
Telephone/Fax number In Full,
Nationality,
Age,
Country,
Occupation

Yours Faithfully,
Donald Baldwin
Lottery Coordinator.
HOT LOTTO

This advice complies with the Anti-Fraud section 2,sub section (iv) of the procedural manual of the funds disbursementagreement existing between the e-Lottery syndicates, UK Govt. and the EU Gaming Commission.

Congratulations from all members and staffs of this program.
Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) New Year Promo

http://www.lotteryusa.com/lottery/HL/HL_fcur.htmlulations

You'd think Harvard would know better than to send out an email where the words run together at parts, and the only link doesn't even work. If you visit that site, it says, "LotteryUSA page lotteryHLHL_fcur.htmlulations not found." It seems the "ulations" part after the ".html" was likely a portion of a previously typed (or generated) "congratulations."

But I'm rich!

Note for those who don't get the gag: This was a spam email sent in an effort to get my personal information. The "legitimate" Harvard sender tells me to forward all my personal info to some random guy "named" Robert Smith, reachable at a disposable email address (musl0093@gmail.com). It didn't mention me by name or email address so that the same message, word for word, could be sent out to many, many others, soliciting their personal information as well. If you get a similar message, or one that sounds too good to be true, always keep in mind the possibility that it is fraud.