10 Hilariously Obvious Scam Emails (That You've Probably Been Sent)

7. Millionaire Charity Project

Lotteries have long been a useful tool for scammers, long before the internet even existed. Rigged lotteries have been around for centuries, designed to scam all the genuine participants out of their hard-earned cash while stooges pretend to have won. Even today, scam emails use people's positive associations with the lottery and the ability to "get rich quick." One of the most common variants is a scammer pretending to be a charitable lottery winner, selecting you among ten others to receive millions from them. Of course, before you can collect your winnings, you'll need to cover the transfer fees, which can run up into the thousands. Example:

My wife and I won the Euro Millions Lottery of £41 Million British Pounds and we have decided to donate £1.5 million British Pounds each to 10 individuals worldwide as part of our own charity project. To verify, please see our interview by visiting the web page below: Your email address was among the emails which were submitted to us by the Google, Inc as a web user; if you have received our email please, kindly send us the below details so that we can transfer your £1,500,000.00 pounds in your name or direct our bank to effect the transfer of the funds to your operational bank account in your country, congratulations. Full Name: Mobile No: Age: Country: Send your response to (SCAMMER EMAIL) Best Regards, Gareth & Catherine Bull