FIFA World Cup 2010 Lottery Scam Still Going Great Guns

In the third week of December 2009, South African police and the Nelson Mandela Foundation alerted the people to avoid a forged mail related to FIFA world cup to be held in South Africa in June 2010.

The scam was lately unveiled by a South African newspaper, Cape Times, as per which the police claim that it is identical to a "Nigerian 419 scam".

As per the review, a bogus mail which informs recipient that they have won around $2 Million in cash prize in the "FIFA 2010 World Lottery draw" is hitting entering the inboxes of users. The mail carries a famous picture of Mandela with the World Cup, bearing logos of FIFA and the 2010 World Cup.

Firstly, the con artist asks for private information for faxing to a UK number and then gradually entices users to deposit some money in a Nedbank bank account, supposedly to pay for stamp duties and advocates' fees.

As per a report published in another South African newspaper, The Mercury, the scammer who calls himself as Semone Chema is actually UK-based and has a high accent of Nigeria. After initial contact, Mr. Chema will then suggest that the victim should lodge a legal claim for receiving a certificate.

After the certificate is received, Chema praises his victim, assuring that the lottery is authentic and legal, and then provides his victim two options- either deposit an affidavit to allow the exchange of money to a bank account in South Africa or enable his office nominate an attorney on behalf of victim to represent his interest and obtain important legal documents that will assist in the transfer.

People are recommended to be cautious of the scam and they must remember and that they cannot win an authentic lottery if they have not purchased its ticket. Further, they don't have to pay anything to collect winnings in case of a genuine lottery.

Giving his comments on the scam, spokesman of Nelson Mandela Foundation, Sello Hatanga, claimed that it not only deteriorates the Mandela brand, but also attacks unwary people in the name of the foundation. People should be very careful when getting such mails, as per the news published by IOL on December 23, 2009.

Related article: FBI’s ICCC Annual Report Discusses Fraudulent and Non-Fraudulent Complaints

» SPAMfighter News - 1/7/2010