Facebook Members Targeted with Fake Lottery E-mail

A bogus sweepstake targeting Facebook users, while presently circulating online, is victimizing unwitting people, published hoax-slayer.com dated April 25, 2012.

Congratulating the recipient of the fake electronic mail, the message tells that he has been chosen as one of the hundred fortunate Facebook members who're to get USD100,000 each from the recently-held Facebook lottery. Describing the purpose of the lottery, the e-mail states that it's for rewarding Facebook members for their never-diminishing interest in the company as also for steadily using its e-mail system. It was in November 2010 that the launch of Facebook e-mail was initiated, while by April 2012, the number of the site's e-mail users crossed 100m. Since this huge increase happened in such a brief time-span, Facebook hopes the present lottery will help users to become aware as also promote more-and-more of its users towards adopting its e-mail service, the e-mail continues. Softpedia.com reported this on April 25, 2012.

The selection of the winners, according to the e-mail, was with random balloting from Gmail. Those declared a winner requires contacting any Facebook workplace and show them his lottery number and get his prize-money along with the related official papers. Any winner not knowing the address of a Facebook workplace can answer the e-mail and get one for the office in his locality, the hoax message concludes.

Meanwhile, the e-mail doesn't have any association with Facebook while the announcement about the recipient being a winner of one huge sum too isn't true.

But people, who become convinced as also proceed for hunting their neighborhood's Facebook office, will instead of finding it, return to the e-mail giving the address of the "Facebook Group." This' the point the scammers play their ultimate trick. They reply to the potential victim that the prize-money can be collected from one particular country, usually very far-off. Alternatively, they should make a payment for facilitating the delivery of the prize. As this payment is given less than the travel-cost to the foreign country, the victim willingly sends the fee.

Conclusively therefore, recipients should be careful of messages that assert about them being winners of any lottery/promotion they haven't at all participated in.

Related article: Facebook Users Should be Careful of a Computer Virus

» SPAMfighter News - 4/30/2012