Guess what ?...I have won the Canadian lottery!....or have I ?

You have to give it too these saddo's who persist in trying to separate honest folk from their hard erned cash through desception.....they certainly are a persistant bunch of crooks.

Today I received this email:

" Customer ServicesRef: USCA/9420X2/68
Batch: 074/05/ZY369File #
: KTU/9023118308/03
We happily announce to you the Third annual draw of the UK CANADIAN NATIONAL LOTTERY Sweepstakes International program held on the Wednesday 19th of August 2009 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.Your e-mail address was attached to ticket number: 564 75600545 188 and Serial number 5368/02 drew the lucky winning numbers: 5 6 10 15 39 42 BONUS 8 which subsequently won you the lottery in the 2nd category. You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of US$138,500 (One Hundred and Thirty Eight Thousand Five Hundred United States Dollars)in cash credited to file ktu/9023118308/03.This is from a total cash prize of US$5,540,000 million dollars, shared amongst the First Forty (40) lucky winners in this category. All participants were selected randomly from World Wide Web through computer Draw system.This promotion takes place quarterly in view of this, your US$138,500 (One Hundred and Thirty Eight Thousand Five Hundred United States Dollars) would be released and Processed By our Fiduciary agents/officers in Canada .For security reasons, you are advised to keep your winning information confidential until your claims has been processed and your money remitted to you in whatever manner you deem fit to claim your prize. This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid claiming and unwarranted Abuse of this program by some unscrupulous elements.Please be warned. Such cases we encountered earlier. You have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay out of US$138,500 (One Hundred and Thirty Eight Thousand Five Hundred United States Dollars) at no extra cost to yourself from our North American payment office located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada should you claim within the 3week time frame. Now, we would like to explain to you the Federal and International regulations governing the personal collections of cash prizes.1) Prize winnings are released to you as soon as your Clearance Fee is deducted and paid. That will be the day that your cheque will be released from our remittance office.2) Your clearance fee is provided for you and is a calculated amount based on the size of your win as required by Federal and International regulations.3) Note that once your clearance fee is paid, you will receive your winnings in the form of a certified check/Draft or if you request, by bank transfer directly into your bank account or any account nominated by you.4) If you are contacted by any other person other than the designated fiduciary Agent and you are asked to send any form of money please desist from any further communication with this person, we provide all stipulated charges or fees take note of this. To file for your claim, please direct all mails /inquiries to our fiduciary Agents in Canada they will take charge of all winners from these continents mentioned above, with all of the Details available below.Once you have made contact, we shall designate one of our numerous Customer services officer to handle your claim: Mr. Thomas Smith Tel/Fax no: +1-206-888-2125 Email: tsmith02@in.com .Good luck from me (myself?) and (the) members of staff of the UK CANADIAN NATIONAL LOTTERY.To avoid necessary delays and complications,please immediately send us an email or fax with following details below: a) Quote your reference/batch and file numbers.b) Your lucky winning numbers and bonus numbers.c) Your full names and current address.d) Proof of identity.e) Also a copy of this email message. f) Winning amount.g) Your email address,telephone and fax numbers. Congratulations once more from all members and staff of this program. Thank You for being part of our promotional lottery program. Yours Sincerely,MR MARTIN HENRYLOTTERY CO-ORDINATOR.(UK CANADIAN NATIONAL LOTTERY) NB:1) Please note preferred mode of communication in redeeming your winnings is through Email or fax; telephone calls may not be received due to busy schedules.2) We had to send this email again because fraudsters/scammers tried to drop a malicious bug into our database, please accept our apologies. 3) If you think you have received this email in error please ignore/discard it.4) Please also do not reply to customerservice@national-lottery.co.uk, if you do you risk been disqualified of redeeming your winnings (i wonder why?). Mode of communication in redeeming your winnings is through Email or fax; telephone calls may not be received due to busy schedules.5) You can also confirm your winning number and bonus numbers on our web

http://www2.canada.com/findit/lotteries/results.aspx?id=4"

Click on the link and there are no results for October...funny that !

Of course the slight problem is that I have yet to hear of a legitimate lottery that enters your email/name etc and then awards you a ton of money for no cost to your pocket....too good to be true?You bet it is (slight pun there...sorry!)

Just to recap,the names of the individuals involved (apparently) are :

MR MARTIN HENRY (Lottery Co-ordinator)
Mr. Thomas Smith (Customer serice officer)

Anyway, i will be sending them a reply to see what happens next......just for a laugh......and posting the results up here for your amusement. Watch this space :-)