SCAM – ‘Bob Erb Email Donation Project’

According to this email, you have been chosen as the recipient of $850,000 as part of Bob Erb’s ‘Christmas Donation Project’.

Supposedly, philanthropist and lottery winner Bob Erb has set up a system in which ‘financial support cheques’ are distributed to some Internet users via the random selection of their email addresses. And, claims the message, ‘Google-powered newsletter software’ chose your email address and you are therefore among those selected to receive the windfall.

The email instructs you to send your details to a specified email address to arrange the ‘immediate release of your christmas donation cheque’.

Bob Erb is a real person and he did win a large prize in a Canadian lottery. And, in fact, he is a very generous man who has given away millions of dollars to charities, his friends and family, and even needy strangers.

However, this email is not from Bob Erb or anyone associated with him. It is an advance fee scam designed to trick you into sending your money and personal information to online criminals.

If you email to claim your prize as instructed in the message, you would soon receive a request for upfront fees that are supposedly required to allow the claim to be processed. The scammers, still posing as Bob Erb or his staff, will claim that the money is needed for expenses such as tax, insurance, or banking fees. And, the scammers will explain, these fees cannot be deducted from the donation itself for legal reasons. They will warn that, if all of the requested fees are not paid in advance, the money will be donated to somebody else instead.

Of course, the criminals will pocket any money you send and you will never receive the promised cheque.

Furthermore, during the course of the scam, you may be tricked into providing a large amount of your personal and financial information, ostensibly to allow your claim to be verified and documented. The scammers may be able to use this information to steal your identity.

The tactic described here is a favourite among advance fee scammers. They often send out bogus emails pretending to be from lottery winners that have been profiled in the media. As in this example, they claim you have been chosen to receive a large donation from the specified lottery winner. And, again, if you respond, you will be asked to send money and personal information to claim your ‘donation’.

Lottery scams like this have been around for decades and even predate email and the Internet. But, alas, despite a great deal of publicity, people still fall for such scams everyday.