Thursday, April 26, 2007

Scammers have it tough

I received the absolute best possible news in the mail today. Apparently I, ME, MOI, won the Hispanic Lottery, a lottery that I never signed up for and never knew existed! Yes you suckers, I am now rich. All I need to do is send them my credit card and bank account info, and EUR892,000 will be deposited in my account. And I had better act fast, apparently I have until May 17th to claim my glorious prize.

I was both amused and impressed by this scam. Amused by some of things they put in the letter. Besides silly things like "keep this confidential" and "act fast!" there are also some genuinely funny moments. Apparently I have a representative, Dr. Villa Diego, who will care take of the transaction for me. DR. VILLA DIEGO! What a hilarious, Bond-villain-esque name; I bet these guys were laughing their asses off when they decided on the name. What could he possibly be a doctor of... Scrooge McDuckery? Monetary botany?

On the other hand, I was also impressed by how far they went to add validity to their scam. They included a stamp from Spain on the envelope (which of course, had no return address), and cited phone numbers in the letter. I'm somewhat curious to actually call them just to see what would happen.

Ok fine, I just want to call someone and ask for a Dr. Villa Diego. But still.

Scammers must have a harder time trying to trick people with these lottery scams, especially tricking the generation that grew up with the Internet. Do you remember getting those emails from the president of some far off country, peddling some story about how he needs your help to transfer's his abandoned country's funds into your account? Those were great! Checking up on scams on the Internet is too damn easy nowadays, that scammers have to go back to sending out good, ol' fashioned letters.

Well I say good for them, it'll teach them the grass roots, old school way of taking people's money. Have we become too lazy to even rob a bank or mug someone? Geez.

[UPDATE] Apparently my Dad got the exact same letter today. Sweet.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

We actually provide the service to deliver the prize to you. Here is what you will have to do:

(1)Make sure to keep your door unlock on May 17th.
(2)Leave your wallet on your desk
(3)Our agent will come to your house on May 17th between 9am-5pm and place your EUR892,000 by your wallet

Note:
(1) You don't have to be home. Our agent is nationally certified and confidential.

(2) If you lock your door on May 17th, you will forfeit your prize.

Anthony said...

What kind of Bond villain wants my wallet! I mean REALLY.

Anonymous said...

Dear winner,
We understand your concerns.
The wallet is to help our agent quickly locate the deposit location.

This is our Spanish tradition. Our winners indicate their favorite location for their cash prize in their house by placing their wallet.
Our experienced agents is well trained to identify wallet upon entrance into our winner's house and to place the cash prize efficiently beside wallet. Our agents spend their whole life do what they do best and you have to trust them.

Anonymous said...

You and your dad must be on the same list, then. It would be really funny if you got home and at the same time as you say "Can you believe this scam?", your dad's like "Anthony, we're gonna be rich!"

Anthony said...

haha "We're DOUBLE rich!"

Mr Chairman said...

I got the same thing in the mail. I'm not sure how long it'll take for my winning to be deposited. I'll check my account next week.