I got this in my email this morning:

I didn't even know my email address was being entered into a worldwide lottery. I wonder what "specified web addresses" I visit that "enjoy their patronage".

This sounds almost too good to be true - so I figured the humor forum was the best place for it.
====================================

Global Sweepstakes Lottery Organization
Affiliated to WORLDGRAND WINNING LOTTERY INC.
Head Office:
#14,Olympic Way
Sefton Business Park
Aintree
LIVERPOOL
L30 1RD
Tel:+442070601196
Fax: +442077239438
Ref#: WSL/943OY3/05
Batch#: 12/25/DC17

NOTIFICATION OF DRAWS AND WINNINGS:
Over the years the prestigious World Grand Lottery has set out and
sucessfully organised World Lotteries annually and have not failed in
satisfying our winners. This year is no different we aimed for even
greater results and hope to break our expectancy rates.
We have again done what we are best known for and wish to happily
announce to you the draws of the Global Sweepstakes
Lottery International program held on the 21st of February 2005 in
Brockley, London,United Kingdom.
Your e-mail address was randomly selected and attached to ticket
number:564-7566545288 with Serial number 5233/09 and drew the lucky
numbers: 31-6-26-13-35-7, which subsequently won you
the sweepstakes lottery in the 2nd category.
You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum
of £250,000.00 (Two Hundred and fifty Thousand Great Britain Pounds)
in cash credited to file WSL/9080118308/03.This is from a total cash
prize of £2.5 Million Great Bratain Pounds, shared amongst the first
Ten (10) lucky winners in this category.
All participants were selected randomly and extracted from specified
web addresses which enjoy our patronage,This was done through a
computer draw system.The promotion is an annual event and takes place
at the end of each year.
Please be informed that your lucky winning number falls
within our European booklet representative office in
London.In view of this, your winnings-£250,000.00 (Two Hundred and
fifty Thousand Great Britain Pounds) would be released to you by our
payment office. We have contacted the European agent who will
immediately commence the process to facilitate the release of your
funds as soon as you contact him and file your claim.
To file for your claim, please contact the fiduciary
agent via email:
Dr.Kenneth Livingstone
GLOBAL SWEEPSTAKES LOTTERY INC.
Email:ken_livingstone@globalstakeslotty.org

To avoid unnecessary delays and complications, please
quote your reference/batch numbers in any
correspondence with our designated agent.
Congratulations once more from all members and staff
of this program. Thank you for being part of our
promotional lottery program.

Sincerely,
Mr Ben Robinson,
Global Sweepstakes Lottery Co-ordinator.
NB:
PLEASE NOTE!
Any claim not made before seven(7) working days from date of
notification will indicate that the winner has voluntarily forfeited
his/her winnings.

quote:

Affiliated to WORLDGRAND WINNING LOTTERY INC.
Head Office:
#14,Olympic Way
Sefton Business Park
Aintree
LIVERPOOL
L30 1RD

Is there anyone out that way who might possibly know this address?

Got a mail myself this morning...


FROM-
The desk of the Chairwoman,
Dept. of foreign affairs,
Ministry of Mines and power,
4 Garba close,Area D,
Garki, Abuja.
Nigeria.


Hello dear,
I am Engr.Mrs.Christiana loterny,I am the chairman of
the panel set up for the payment of foreign contractors in my ministry.Infact
this is a golden opportunity for me and you to get our own share of my National
cake.
It is true that many individuals have engaged themselves
with various dubiuos businesses which has brought to our dear country bad
names.But the truth is that some geniune business still exists.My dear,
I tell you ,this is exactly why I have taken it upon myself to solicit for
a foreign patner who will be the lucky one to do business with.
Any how,if you want proof of the genuinty of this transaction
which we are about to make ,I will, Just belief in your luck.
In my dept.,we usually inflate contractor,s amount
,this has been the routine for every body who is on top, so now it is my
turn.this is why I have to do something fast b/4 I am retired.We have this
amount of money with the central bank of nigeria(c.b.n.)this said amount
is now ready to be tranfered to any available foreign account presented
as the beneficiary. Me and my collegues here, has concluded all the neccessary
arrangements to make this transaction risk free.
All you have to do is to belief in yourself and accept
that your luck has shown,what we need from you now is (1)your company,s
name and address(2)what you deal on(3)your private telephone address.I want
to assure you that you may not even come to Nigeria since the country already
has a bad name.We thank God for an opportunity like this.
For you to know the amount involved is ($11.8million dollars).We
have also agreed to give you 30%of the total amount.We will need an account
number from you but not immedietly.
Please accept this offer and let us join other millioniers.

Till I hear from you.

God bless you.


(Engr.Mrs.Christiana loterny)

Oh, hang on for a few minutes ... I got a similar one a while back but I need to find it again.

I even replied to it.

Here it is:

==============================
THEIR MESSAGE
==============================

Dear Beloved in Christ,

It is by the grace of God that I received Christ, knowing the truth and the truth have set me free. Having known the truth, I had no choice than to do what is lawful and right in the sight of God for eternal life and in the sight of man for witness of God´s mercy and glory upon my life.

I have the pleasure to share my testimony with you, having seen your contact from the Internet. I am Barrister Mark Osume, the legal adviser to late Mr. and Mrs. Ben Brown, a British couple that lived in my Country Nigeria for 25 years before they both died in the plane crash late last year. These couples were good Christians, they so dedicated to God but they had no child till they died. Throughout their stay in my country, they acquired a lot of properties like lands, house properties, etc.

As their legal adviser, before their death, the husband Mr.Ben Brown instructed me to write his WILL. Because they had no child, they dedicated their wealth to God. According to the WILL, the properties have to be sold and the money be given out to a ministry for the work of God. As their legal adviser, all the documents for the properties were in my care.

He gave me the authority to sell the properties and give out the fund to the Ministries for the work of God.

In short, I sold all the properties after their death, as instructed by Mr.Ben Brown before his death. And as matter of fact, after I sold all their
properties, I realized more than $30,000,000.00 (Thirty million US dollars plus), and what supposed to be the percentage interest of my right legal fee was firstly deducted by me out of the total amount realized from the sold properties, this was base on the initial agreement between me and the owner of the properties before his death. Therefore the total amount left to be invested into God's work as instructed by the owner, is $30,000,000.00 (Thirty million US dollars) only. But Instead of giving the main fund out for the work of God as instructed to me by the owner before
his death. I converted the fund to myself with the intention of investing the fund abroad for my personal use. I was afraid of putting the fund in the Bank, because I have to give account to the bank on how I got the money. I then packaged the fund in consignments and deposited the consignments with a security company. I did not want the management of the Security Company to know the content of the consignments, therefore I registered the content of the consignments as Gold Bars. Now, the security company believes that what I deposited with them was
Gold Bars.

I had encounter with Christ when Pastor Benny Hinn was preaching on television concerning Ananias and Saphira in Acts 5:1-11. After hearing the word of God, I gave my life to Christ and became a born again Christian. As a born again Christian, I started reading my bible and one day, the Lord opened my eyes to Ezekiel 33: 18 and 19 where the word of God says: "When the righteous truth from his righteousness, and committee iniquity, he shall even die thereby. But if the wicked turn from
his wickedness, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby". From the scripture, I discovered that the only way I could have peace in my life is to do what is lawful and right by giving out the fund as instructed for the work of God by the owner before his death.

I have asked God for forgiveness and I know that God have forgiven me. But I have to do what is lawful and right in the sight of God by giving out the fund to the chosen ministry for the purpose of God's wok as instructed by the owner before his death.

After my fasting and prayers, I asked God to make his choice and direct me to a honest Christian or the chosen ministry that deserves this fund by his Grace. I then came across your address on the Internet as I was browsing through a Christian site, and as a matter of fact, it is not only you or your ministry that I picked on the Christian site initially, but after my fervent prayer over it, then you were nominated to me through divine revelation from God, so these are how I received such a divine revelation from the Lord, how I got your contact information, and I then decided to contact you for the fund to be used wisely for things that will glorify the name of God.

I have notified the Security Company where I deposited the consignments that contained the fund, that I am moving the consignment abroad and the security company has since been waiting for my authority for the consignment to leave my country and move to abroad.

So if you know that you will use this fund honestly and wisely for things that will glorify God's name, then do contact me back first through this my email for more details.

You should also forward to me your physical contact address were you will like the consignments delivered to you, your direct telephone and fax number for easy communication and to fax you the documents concerning
the consignments.

Your prompt response will be highly appreciated.
Yours in Christ.

Barrister Mark Osume.



=============================================
MY RESPONSE BACK TO THEM:
=============================================

I must say this message caught me by surprise, being neither an honest man nor a good Christian myself I'm somewhat perplexed at how you received my name from a Christian website unless I was on their "hit list" for something.

Thank you for your kind words regarding that British couple, and my name is also Ben. I see where their WILL you wrote directs you to give this wealth to an honest man who would spend it for the betterment of the church and the Christian faith. To be honest with you, I wouldn't do that. I could lie to you and say that "Yes, I would spend it to the glory of God", but I know myself, and I know that my own greed would cause me to purchase things for myself like new cars, houses, a boat - etc., and I just don't need those things - especially when I didn't earn this money in question. It's not right to take or try to get money out of someone when I have done nothing to have any claim on their money whatsoever, and I know that if there is a God in Heaven, that one day I will have to answer for my actions on this Earth, and so in good faith - I simply cannot accept your offer.

Thank you and good luck in your search for an honest Christian,

Ben

Hey Ben,. Thanks, 'cause I must have gotten the letter, almost exactly as yours, after he abandoned you and started looking for the next guy. Do people really buy into this crap?

Muffin

Yes, enough people fall for these scams and their variations that it is apparently profitable to continue it. Elderly women are often vulnerable. The two biggies are the Nigerian Oil Minister scam (and variations) and the Canadian Lottery scam. Sending bank info, front end earnest money, or pre-pay taxes that is the hook.

And let's not forget, that some of them are just looking for enough personal information about you (in good faith), to take over your identity, apply for credit cards or e-loans, or whatever, and have it all billed to you.

That's where I was at least somewhat hoping that my reply would give them pause to think, but those people have no morals

It's dissappointing to even contemplate folks like that.

Got another one today!

GREETINGS,


I am MR DAVID WOOD the Bank Manager of CITIBANK 332 Oxford street, London
I have an urgent and very confidential business proposistion for you, on June 6, 1997, an iraqi foreign oil consultant/contractor with the BRITISH PETROLUEM CORPORATION,Mr HAFFEZ AL SADIQUE.made a numebered time (fixed deposit) for
36 calender months,valued at us$29,500,00(Twenty nine million five hundred thousand dollars only)in my branch.upon maturity in 2000, I sent a routine notification to his forwarding address but got no reply.
After a month , we sent a feminder and finally we discovered from his contract employers,the british petroluem corporation that Mr HAFFEZ AL SADIQUE died as a result of tuture in the hand of sadam hussein during one of his trips to his country iraq.On further investigation i found out that he died without making any will,and all attempt to trace his next kin was fruitless. I therefore made further investigation and discovered that Mr HAFFEZ AL SADIQUE.did not declare any kin or relations in all his officical documents,including his bank Deposit paperwork in my bank. This sum of us$29,500,00 have been floating as unclaimed since 2000 in my bank as all effort to get his relatives have hit the stone.According to the law at the expiration of 8 (eight)years, the money revert to the ownership of the british Government if nobody applies to claim the fund and the eight years is the of december 2004.Consequently, my proposal is that i want to seek your consent as a foreigner to sta!
nd in as the of the money as the next of kin to the decesased so that the bank will transfer the money to your desighated account.ALL documents and proves to enable you get this fund will be carefully worked out.I have secured from the probate an order of mandamus to locate any of the deceased beneficiaries, and more so I are assuring you that the business is risk free involvement .Your share stays while the rest be for myself and for investment purpose as i will leave london by the end of the year .The sharing of the fund will be based According to agreement within me and you.As soon as i receive an acknowledgement of receipt of this message in acceptance of our mutual business proposal, I will furnish you with the necessary modalities and disbursement ratio to suit both parties without any conflict.If this proposal is acceptable by you,do not take advantage of the trust i have bestowed in you.
PLEASE, APPRECIATE THE FACT THAT DOING BUSINESS OVER THE INTERNET IS RISK ENDEAVOR TO SEND CONFIDENTIAL TELEPHONE AND FAX NUMBER IN YOUR REPLY TO ,david_w112002@yahoo.co.in.

MR DAVID WOOD

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Get your FREE email, calendar, file storage, bookmarks, diary/journal, and other great services at
http://www.doneasy.com ! doneasy.com "Where timesaving is priceless!"

Hehe ... I've gotten and replied to a couple like this as well...

Some of them offered a different share basis anywhere from 10 to 35% that I would get to keep, and depending on the amount, it was anywhere from $5,000,000 to $30,000,000 all for doing nothing except cooperating...

I've replied back to various ones with various stories, but my favorite one was where I basically just asked the guy what he thought about anyone trusting enough to think someone would just walk up and hand him $10,000,000 for nothing - and it would be VERY easy, and much cheaper than $10 million to just have me killed once the money's tranferred and take my share anyway. Certainly anyone dishonest enough to want to illegally steal that much money wouldn't have a problem killing someone over it.

He replied back that no, I could trust him and he wouldn't kill me afterwards...

I nearly cracked up.

I used to keep a folder to put these kind of emails in. If you could cash in on 10% of them you would have more money than Gates, and Nigeria and England would be bankrupt. The real shame is the ones that believe. The folder got so big it wasn't worth keeping, got thrown out, wasn't funny anymore.

One of the real shames, is there are hundreds, maybe thousands of numbered Swiss bank accounts out there with millions of dollars in them left over from WW2 with nobody to claim those.

Check out this guy...he responds to them.

http://www.quatloos.com/brad-c/directory01.htm