I won $850,000...
By Lena Kovadlo
@lovebuglena (52149)
Staten Island, New York
November 6, 2020 2:10pm CST
Wouldn't that be nice?
I saw an email in my junk folder from Publishers Clearing House telling me that I won $850,000 in their email draw on a set of lucky numbers: 09, 02, 07, 16, 12, 16, 27. They asked me to establish contact with them by replying to the email with my name, age, sex, address, and phone number. They also gave me a very long unique ticket code. Though I didn't count the number of letters it probably was longer than the amount of letters in the English alphabet. 
I knew it was too good to be true. If I ever won that much money pigs would be flying. 
And checking the actual email address of the sender just for the heck of it confirmed it was not actually Publishers Clearing House who sent me this email. I wonder what these people (whoever they actually are) were planning to do with the info I was supposed to provide them...
I wonder how many people got emails like this and if there was anyone who actually fell for this and replied to them with the info they asked for.
I knew it was too good to be true. If I ever won that much money pigs would be flying. And checking the actual email address of the sender just for the heck of it confirmed it was not actually Publishers Clearing House who sent me this email. I wonder what these people (whoever they actually are) were planning to do with the info I was supposed to provide them...
I wonder how many people got emails like this and if there was anyone who actually fell for this and replied to them with the info they asked for.15 people like this
14 responses
Yes I also got such type of mails, they will just connect to our bank account and steal all the money in it
@VivaLaDani13 (60812)
• Perth, Australia
13 Nov 20
@lovebuglena That would have been amazing if it was genuine. But yeah those darn types of scamming emails are quite popular. I've had quite a lot of those ones in the past. 
But never fallen for it before. It's sad and scary when people do fall for these types of scams. 
But never fallen for it before. It's sad and scary when people do fall for these types of scams. 1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (52149)
• Staten Island, New York
13 Nov 20
And some realize it when it is too late. 
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (52149)
• Staten Island, New York
7 Nov 20
First, time I got this. Good thing you ignored it when you got it.
@lovebuglena (52149)
• Staten Island, New York
8 Nov 20
@Shavkat Oops. But at least now you know not to fall for it again.
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (52149)
• Staten Island, New York
6 Nov 20
Why the heck would someone need to know if I am male or female if I won a huge sum of money?
@lovebuglena (52149)
• Staten Island, New York
6 Nov 20
I missed out on the opportunity to receive that big check. Oh well.
Oh well.2 people like this
@lovebuglena (52149)
• Staten Island, New York
6 Nov 20
Usually if something is in the junk/spam folder than it is spam or a scam so I knew it was too good to be true before I even opened the email.
1 person likes this
@porwest (112876)
• United States
6 Nov 20
@lovebuglena Many of them make themselves quite obvious fortunately.
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (52149)
• Staten Island, New York
6 Nov 20
@porwest I always check the sender's email but I am sure many don't. If they see it came from Publishers Clearing House or paypal.com, etc. they will assume it's them without checking where the email came from. I've gotten many emails supposedly from PayPal but it wasn't PayPal.
2 people like this
@prinzcy (32299)
• Malaysia
7 Nov 20
@lovebuglena I don't remember having a Nigerian relative, knowing any Nigerian or let alone step my foot into Nigeria too. Like the popular phrase, 'there's an imposter among us'
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (52149)
• Staten Island, New York
7 Nov 20
I've never gotten emails like that. At least don't remember getting them. But I have no Nigerian relatives so can't be anyone's heir.
1 person likes this
@much2say (57760)
• Los Angeles, California
6 Nov 20
Oh my gosh - my late FIL almost fell for one like this. He got one of those mailers that looked like a real check . . . and he was holding on to it saying that he won 
. If read carefully, it said you "could" win - not that he did win. It was a bear to convince him that was not a real check.
. If read carefully, it said you "could" win - not that he did win. It was a bear to convince him that was not a real check.@lovebuglena (52149)
• Staten Island, New York
6 Nov 20
Just out of curiosity, did he try to deposit it? That would have been very funny if he did.
That would have been very funny if he did.@lovebuglena (52149)
• Staten Island, New York
6 Nov 20
But you know, some "checks" look real if you don't examine them. Sometimes they send offers for a loan or something like that that looks like they sent you a check but it's really them telling you the amount of the loan they can give you.
@moffittjc (128837)
• Gainesville, Florida
10 Nov 20
I'm glad you didn't fall for the scam. It's getting scary how real-looking these emails are these days. I get scam emails that are supposedly from my credit card companies or banks. They look so authentic, but when you check the email address of the sender, you can quickly and easily see that they are from scammers. But now I see how so many people are easily fooled, because they don't know what to look for in these scam emails and they think they are authentic.
@lovebuglena (52149)
• Staten Island, New York
10 Nov 20
In the beginning I didn't know you can check the email address of the sender. Now I know, which is a good thing because some probably see the sender's name (i.e. PayPal) and automatically thing it's from them. And the typos or language also give it away.
1 person likes this
@JESSY3236 (22245)
• United States
17 Nov 20
lol Glad you didn't fall for it. On facebook I had friended a person who had a name of a bookstore here. The message they sent said that I could win books, but when I look at the link it said to put my credit card number in the site. I didn't I defriended the person and got rid of the message.
@lovebuglena (52149)
• Staten Island, New York
17 Nov 20
That was sneaky of them. Glad you caught on to that and didn't give them your credit card.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382104)
• Rockingham, Australia
7 Nov 20
The scams are never-ending and they keep coming up with new ones. I guess there is always someone who falls for these tricks otherwise they wouldn't keep trying them on.
@JudyEv (382104)
• Rockingham, Australia
7 Nov 20
@lovebuglena The email addresses never check out and, as you say, the writing is terrible - grammar, spelling, etc.
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (52149)
• Staten Island, New York
7 Nov 20
I used to get emails that my PayPal account is suspended, my Apple account is locked, etc. I knew they were not legit after checking the email address of the senders. Also, sometimes the writing had typos in it or grammar issues, so that gave it away as well. Or the logo in the emails was not a legit logo.
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (52149)
• Staten Island, New York
3 Dec 21
Of course, I never signed up for PCH. Your last sentence, did you mean the scammer's request or the PCH request?
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (52149)
• Staten Island, New York
3 Dec 21
@db20747 They will never get my info from me. I had a call today I didn't pick up. Whoever it was left a message. Something about an express delivery that I never signed for. Definitely fishy to me. I won't be calling them back.
@db20747 (43419)
• Washington, District Of Columbia
3 Dec 21
@lovebuglena the scammers request.
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (222417)
• United States
7 Nov 20
Once you got in touch with them, they would probably want your social security number and credit card number. Such scammers! I'm glad you didn't reply.
@lovebuglena (52149)
• Staten Island, New York
7 Nov 20
Yeah. Now that I know you can check the actual email address of the sender it is easy to tell if it is a scam or not. I used to get lots of emails supposedly from paypal, even some from Apple, and after checking the email addresses it was clear they were a scam.
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (52149)
• Staten Island, New York
7 Nov 20
As they say... if it's too good to be true it probably is.
1 person likes this
