I’m sure we all wonder at times why we get so many of those stupid and foolish emails promising that we have won a fortune in some email lottery. Surely no one gets suckered by these?

Err, yes they do. I’ve got a little companion blog where I post up a few of them that hit my inbox. On that blog today I got this comment:

dear sir,
i got a mail from EAAS for prize of $250,000.00
and according to the fidiciary agent i sent them $950.00 for
charges.but still i didnt get any replay from them and the fudiciary
agent name is
barrister mohamed mustaphe
phone number :+628567322184
according to him i have sent him $950.00 but still again they are
asking me for some more money.sir pliz help me if it is a fraud or true
lottery system as i have already sent them $950.00,and tell me if its a
fraud how can i get my money back?
pliz mail me as soon  as possible:
thanks and regards
nihar ranjan nanda

That’s how the scam works, they ask for a fee to release the prize: if you pay that then they ask for another and so on. No prize ever arrives. Unless anyone has any better ideas I’d say that Mr. Nanda has lost his $950 and I can’t see that there’s any way of helping him.