Info: A New Twist on the Lottery Scam?

Lottery scams have been around for quite a while, and are so common that I have a blog dedicated to them. The most suspicious thing about lottery scams is that you win a lottery you never entered. The sender usually spins some bull story about how it's your email address that's won, and the sponsor is some benevolent set of corporations that want to promote Internet use. If you believe that sort of thing, you're just plain credulous, I'm sorry to say.

A new variation on the scam which sounds a little more credible has just come to my attention. Rather than tell you you've won a lottery you never entered, they give you a free opportunity to enter a sweepstakes. If you're as cynical as I am, you can guess what happens next: you win the lottery, and it's the same old scam all over again. This is pretty smart from the scammer's perspective. Not only is the whole cover story more credible, but the people who reply and enter the lottery have immediately identified themselves as easy marks.

I won't post a sample in full, since there is too much tracking data in the URLs. Thanks goes to JR for submitting it.

From: "Eligibility Notification " <s.baker@afternooncake.com>
Date: 31 Aug 2006 15:51:43 -0400
Subject: , You Have Been Selected to Win a Million Dollars

WIN A MILLION DOLLARS!
AUDREY SOLARA SWEEPSTAKES DIRECTOR

To Whom It May Concern,

You're one of the authorized individuals who has a chance to WIN $1,000,000!

You've been selected as a candidate to receive this e-mail announcement.
Not everyone has been sent this private message.
To enter our WinAMillion Sweepstakes simply visit the link below.
[etc]