Lottery Scam: Royal Espana Sweepstakes

This is a typical lottery-based 419 scam, sent to the contact address for this blog. (Spammers aren't known for discrimination in sending out their crap.) It was sent from 81.44.210.250 (250.Red-81-44-210.pooles.rima-tde.net.; WHOIS: Telefonica de Espana, Spain) on Mon, 06 Jun 2005 15:00:42 -0000. The return/from address used was "royalespanasweepst@netscape.net", and the reply-to address was "expressfinanc500@rediff.com", although there's no proof that these email addresses are genuinely related to the spam in any causally significant way.

FROM:PROMOTION DEPARTMENT
ROYAL ESPANA SWEEPSTAKES LOTTERY
RefNo:RNS/9020148308/04


                                  WINNING NOTIFICATION.

Over the years the prestigious Royal Espana Sweepstake Lottery has set out and sucessfully organised Sweepstakes on a annual basis. We have equally maintained a standard unrivaled in the industry as it concerns the pay out of winnings to sucessful participants.
In line with the commemorating event marking our 10th year anniversary we
rolled out over $2.5M(Two million Five Hundred Thousand USD for our 10th year Anniversary Draws. Participants for the draws were randomly selected and drawn from a wide range of web hosts which enjoy our patronage. The
selection was made through a computer draw system attaching personalised
email addresses to ticket numbers.

Your email address as indicated was drawn and attached to Ticket Number
003895337498 with serial numbers RES/9020148308/04 and drew the lucky
numbers 14-21-05-39-40-47(22) which subsequently won you $2.5m USD(Two Million Five Hundred Thousand USD as one of the 10 jackpot winners in this draw. You have therefore been approved the entire winning
sum of $2.5M (Two Million Five Hundred Thousand USD).This June 2005 lottery Draws is commemorative and special.

Please be informed by this Winning Notification to make contact with your
designated agent Mr.Danny Hanks who shall by duty guide you through the
process to facilitate the release of your winnings.To file for your claim Please Contact your Fiduciary agent

Mr.Danny Hanks
EXPRESS FINANC S.A
TEL:0034-659-309-051
Email: peterparker230@yahoo.co.uk

You are advised to contact your Fiduciary agent with the following details
to avoid unnecessary delays and complications.Your Name (in Full).Ticket Number,Serial Number,and Lucky Numbers as indicated in this winning Notification.

I wish to on behalf of Members and Staff of the Global Sweepstakes Lottery
International Congratulate you on your win and wish you the Best of luck as you spend your good fortune.
Thank you for being part of our commemorative 10th Anniversary Draws.

Sincerely,
Mrs Helena Vangash
Royal Espana Sweepstakes Lottery Head co-ordinator)

PLEASE NOTE: Any claim not made before twenty one(21) working days from date of notification will indicate that the winner has voluntarily forfeited his/her winnings.

Update at 2005-07-08 14:33:24 +0000. I sent a query in to the "fiduciary agent", supposedly a Mr Danny Hanks with email address "peterparker230@yahoo.co.uk", and received a response back via Yahoo!, which claims the source is 62.128.161.97 (WHOIS: Afsat Communications Ltd, Kenya) from a Sir Peter Parker (Sir!) as follows.

Global Sweepstakes Lottery Organization
Head Office:
#14,Olympic Way
Sefton Business Park
Aintree
LIVERPOOL
L30 1RD
Tel:+447040110537
Fax:+448701347429

Dear Sir,


CLAIMS PROCEDURE.
I have been notified by the authorites concerned of the GLOBAL SWEEPSTAKES 10th Anniversary Draws and the winners as they emerged from the floor of the draws in Brockley London.I have been contracted as Fiduciary agent in charge of the release of your win, I shall by duty guide you through the process to the release of your win as far as I confirm the authenticity of your claim.
Following the rules guiding processing your package release,The administrative procedure requires you fill the attached Verification/Claims.This will enable us verify the authenticity of your claims and effectively process the release of your winnings. Please be guided accordingly.

Name in full(Surname first)
Address
Occupation
Marital Status
Age
Sex
Nationality
Telephone number
Fax
Mode of Payment(choose from):
"Telegraphic wire transfer"
" Cheque"
" Bank Draft"
A scanned copy of your ID (Optional)
Upon reciept of the duly filled form,a notification will be sent to you with the contact information of the payment office so you can
proceed with effecting the release of your claim in anyway you deem fit
Upon receipt of the duly filled form,a notification will be sent to you with further instructions on how to effectively receive your win.
I wish to Congratulate you Once more on your win.
With best regards,
Peter Parker
Fiduciary Agent
NB:
Please be informed that the World Grand Lottery Inc. will not under any circumstance or conditions sell out personal information given to us to others and on no grounds will this information provided be used for illegal purposes.
However, We are complelled by Law and as such required to produce this information in a competent court of Law should the need arise.We assure the confidentiality of information given to us and guarantee entirely the the security of your information given to us over the internet. We have measures put in place to to ward off possible misuse of this information. You can log on to our website www.globalsweepstake.com for more information.

If I could think of a useful way to send false information and still get feedback as to what's happening, I'd do so, but I'm out of ideas. It's nice of them to assure me that my personal information wouldn't be used for illegal purposes. I wonder if there's any truth in it.