Wow, I won a lottery I never even entered!

The FTC is warning consumers about International Lottery Scams that have become increasingly prevalent lately, especially in spam emails. If you've gotten an email lately that looks like the one below you should be weary about it's true meaning.

Sir/Madam,

CONGRATULATIONS: YOU WON.

It's our pleasure to inform you of the result of the Union Australia
Lottery, held on the 29th, January 2006. Your e-mail address attached to e-ticket
number: 0001013xxxx, with Cash Prize number 099109xxxx, drew ?�2,000,000.00 (Two Million EUros), which was first in the 3rd Category of the draws. You have been approved to receive the sum of ?�2,000,000.00 (Two Million Euros) from our paying bank. Because of mix-up of information(claims) and the limited time for your cash prize pay-out, we will advice that you keep all
information about this notification confidential(secret) until your prize
(?�2,000,000.00) have been remitted to you by our accredited paying bank. You must adhere to this instructions strictly to avoid the loose of your cash prize to internet abusers, this program has been abused severally, so we are doing our best to forestall further abuse by false claims.
It's important to note that this draws were conducted formally under the
watchful eyes of over a 8,000 audiences. Winners were selected through an internet ballot system from 250,000 e-mail addresses(both personal and
corporate e-mail addresses). This program is sponsored and supported by
T-NET ASSETS, in conjunction with Union Australia lottery.
Congratulations once again. Your e-mail address will be used to participate
in our next, mega, draw: ?65Million.
BE INFORMED: all winning (cash prize) must be claimed not later than
10-days after you receive this notification. Failure to claim your cash prize after this date will result in your cash prize forfeiture. Please, in order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications during the remitance of your funds, remember to always quote your personal and winning information in your correspondence with the
paying bank.

Please contact the paying bank with these information for the immediate
remittance of your funds to you.
Kindly send them the following:
(i). your names,
(ii) Contact telephone and fax numbers
(iii) Contact Address
(iv) Your winning numbers
(v) Quote amount won.

Contact the paying bank with the following:
Swissfirst Bank AG,
Attention: __________.
Swissfirst Bank AG, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
E-mail: __________@netscape.net
Tel: (+3163) 378 ____.
Fax: (+3184) 757 ____.

If you're thinking about claiming the prize in question, the FTC warns the following:

The FTC has these words of caution for consumers who are thinking about responding to a foreign lottery:

• If you play a foreign lottery -� through the mail or over the telephone -� you're violating federal law.
  
• There are no secret systems for winning foreign lotteries. Your chances of winning more than the cost of your tickets are slim to none.
  
• If you purchase one foreign lottery ticket, expect many more bogus offers for lottery or investment "�opportunities." Your name will be placed on "�sucker lists" that fraudulent telemarketers buy and sell.
  
• Keep your credit card and bank account numbers to yourself. Scam artists often ask for them during an unsolicited sales pitch.

If you get one of these emails, you can forward them to the FTC at spam@uce.gov who will most likely do nothing, or register for an account at SpamCop and report the email to the offending provider where the email came from.

FTC Consumer Alert - INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY SCAMS