McAfee Warns of ‘Postcode Lottery’ E-Mail Scam

McAfee on May 27, 2008 said that several e-mail spammers didn't care to find out even the basics of a British colloquialism, and attempted to dupe users into believing they had won a "Postcode Lottery."

Chris Barton, Security Researcher at McAfee, said that Postcode Lotteries in the United Kingdom generally meant bad news. But the remote fraudsters were seeing it quite differently. As per the bottom-feeders, the Postcode Lottery is a competitive games where one can win, as reported by WebUser on May 27, 2008.

According to the researchers at McAfee, the scam e-mail claims to offer a payment of £800,000 to the recipient of message. However, researchers suggested recipients of such e-mails to delete the message and not click on any link in it.

The researchers are also saying that the e-mail looks similar to the '419' or Nigerian scam, which is currently very common to inboxes. Messages of Nigerian scam can also come via letter or fax. These typical requests ask the recipient's assistance for him to claim a huge amount of money, most of the time in several million dollars.

Describing the vicious e-mail, McAfee says that it talks about drawing the attention of the recipient to the winning notice from National Postcode Lottery game conducted on May 8, 2008 through Internet Ballot System among 10,000 Microsoft users.

After that, the e-mail says that a lottery number 24.2.6.37.15.45 along with the winning number 100364, referred to as number XX/0999/171ESP and BATCH: 1211504/MIU is attached in an attempt to make the message appear legitimate.

The e-mail further urges that the recipients regard the notification seriously and contact the relevant department to claim the money by providing the mentioned details and processes of the claim. It even provides a contact number along with the e-mail address of someone named Mr. Jose Bolton although the message comes under the name of one Mrs. Stefian Smith as its sender.

The e-mail has other mistakes too such as poor spelling, a footer note from an Irish ISP, in addition to the two separate signatures and the complete misinterpretation of the word 'Postcode Lottery.

Related article: McAfee Alerts Windows about Accessibility Hole in Vista

» SPAMfighter News - 6/7/2008