Kaspersky lab has shared an article 'Congratulations, you've won! The reality behind online lotteries' written by Spam Analyst Maria Rubinstein. She has shed light on the typical scams employed by fraudsters as well as some useful tips on how to tell the difference between a fraudulent lottery message and a genuine notification in her article.
In a typical online lottery scam, the recipient is asked to send a fee anything from a few hundred to several thousand dollars to speed the delivery of the winnings. This is ostensibly to meet expenses like money transfer commission, taxes, fees for opening a bank account, etc. The "lucky winner" often sees this money as being insignificant in comparison to the sum they've just won. However, once that "fee" is paid, the fraudsters disappear, and the unwary user has little chance of ever finding them.
"According to Kaspersky Lab's statistics, fake lottery notifications account for up to 3% of all spam, which translates into thousands of emails per month. To avoid falling victim to the fraudsters, all you need to do is follow some simple rules. And most importantly, always remember: there is no such thing as a free lunch," said Maria Rubinstein, Author of the article.
