Nigerian-based e-mail spam artists have used the lure of easy money to trick would-be Bay State lottery players into forking over their personal financial information on the Internet. Using a detailed copy of the state Lottery Web site - complete with the state seal and a picture of Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill - the unidentified culprits have promised big payouts in unsolicited e-mails and cell phone text messages containing a link to the bogus site and a password.
They say the payouts will be made through “online gambling” in return for an upfront payment of $200 which they describe as covering the state's ‘gambling tax’.
Payment of the tax - which doesn't actually exist - involves giving up such information as credit card numbers, Social Security number, bank accounts and even your mother's maiden name - information the thieves can then use like personal cash machines.
The bogus site was still active as of yesterday, but a warning had been posted on the actual state Lottery site. Lottery officials first heard of the mirror-image Web site purporting to be the real thing in May and have since received reports about it from some 200 people from as far away as Australia.
Of course, we wouldn’t suggest for a moment that anybody reading this would be dumb enough to fall for any of these scams, but one can never be too careful – always throw official-looking mail straight into the trash! (Maybe that’s why you’re being evicted yet again? – Legal Ed.)
@@
They say the payouts will be made through “online gambling” in return for an upfront payment of $200 which they describe as covering the state's ‘gambling tax’.
Payment of the tax - which doesn't actually exist - involves giving up such information as credit card numbers, Social Security number, bank accounts and even your mother's maiden name - information the thieves can then use like personal cash machines.
The bogus site was still active as of yesterday, but a warning had been posted on the actual state Lottery site. Lottery officials first heard of the mirror-image Web site purporting to be the real thing in May and have since received reports about it from some 200 people from as far away as Australia.
Of course, we wouldn’t suggest for a moment that anybody reading this would be dumb enough to fall for any of these scams, but one can never be too careful – always throw official-looking mail straight into the trash! (Maybe that’s why you’re being evicted yet again? – Legal Ed.)
@@
