Industry Alliance Formed to Fight Internet Lottery Scams
Microsoft Corp, Yahoo! Inc, Western Union and the African Development Bank have formed a coalition to raise global awareness among consumers of the threat posed by fake lottery e-mails. The group’s goal is to educate internet users so they can recognize and protect themselves against this increasingly prevalent form of Internet fraud.
Internet lottery scams are a common form of “advance-fee fraud,” a crime that tricks victims into paying money upfront in return for a fictitious gift or cash prize. Law enforcement officials are worried scammers will increase their activities to take advantage of the millions of people worldwide affected by the global economic downturn.
The announcement of the internet lottery scam coalition coincides with the release of independent research commissioned by Microsoft into consumer experiences of lottery scams in Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK. Of 4,930 people interviewed, 113 people, or one in 44, said they had lost money to an internet fraudster in the last 12 months, with individual losses ranging from less than 100 euros to more than 7,000 euros.
The research also shows that the following:
*Of internet users surveyed, 27 per cent thought it likely they would become a victim of an internet lottery scam that would cost them money.
*More than half (51 per cent) said that lottery scam e-mails made them more reluctant to buy goods from the internet.
*As a result of internet scams 36 per cent said they were more reluctant to use the internet.