Or look at this one ... [2] We are delighted to inform you of your prize release on the 4th of September, 2007 from the Australian International Lottery Program. Which is fully based on an electronic selection of winners using their e-mail addresses. Your name was attached to ticket number 575061725 8056490902 serial number 6741137002. This batch draws the lucky numbers as follows: 4-13-33-37-42 bonus number 17,which consequently won the lottery in the second category. You hereby have been approved a lump sum pay of US$500,000.00 (FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS) in cash credit file ref: ILP/HW 47509/02 from the total cash prize shared amongst eight lucky winners in this category. All participant were selected through a computer balloting system drawn from Nine hundred thousand E-mail addresses from Canada, Australia, United States, Asia, Europe, Middle East, and Africa as part of our international promotions program which is conducted annually. This Lottery was promoted and sponsored by a conglomerate of some multinational companies as part of their social responsibility to the citizens in the communities where they have operational base. Further more your details(e-mail address) falls within our European representative office in Amsterdam,Holland, as indicated in your play coupon and your prize of US$500,000.00 will be released to you from our regional branch bureau in NIGERIA. We hope with part of your prize, you will participate in our end of year high stakes for US$1.3 Billion international draw. HOW TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE: Contact our regional claims agent:
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I think almost all of us have, at one time or another, received those strange messages in our inbox. The story is always the same: some long-lost relative you never knew existed has died, leaving behind millions. Because you happen to share the same surname, you are the lucky heir.
All you need to do is reply, send some details, and the fortune will be yours. Of course, we know these are the tricks of conmen. And yet, secretly, part of us wishes they were true. Imagine instant millions, falling into our laps without effort. It’s a tempting fantasy.
What do I do when these messages arrive? I delete them. But they return, like chameleons, constantly changing their colours. One scam gone, two more appear, each with a new theme but always the same intention: to seduce, to bait, to trap.
And still, people fall for them. I’ve read the stories in the newspapers. Ordinary people, sometimes educated and intelligent, sending money, losing their savings, even their homes.
Why? How do they not see it for what it is?
The answer, I think, lies in greed. Greed is that selfish, uncontrolled desire to possess not to live better, not even to meet one’s needs, but simply to have. The wish to accumulate for its own sake.
The simple desire to improve one’s life, to secure comfort or stability, is natural. It is not unhealthy. But when the desire stretches beyond need into endless wanting, when it becomes possession without purpose, it turns into greed.
And greed, more often than not, blinds us making illusions look like promises, and traps look like opportunities.
