Allen and Violet Large were responsible for one of the most generous acts in the country this year, donating to family, friends, schools, hospitals, and churches in Nova Scotia nearly all of the $11.2 million they won from Lotto 6/49.
But when Allen, 75, was alerted to an email scam circulating this week, in which someone purporting to be him asks for the receiver’s trust in return for an undisclosed donation, he was nothing near charitable to the scammers.
“They’ve got to be pretty goddamned low, as far as I’m concerned,” said Large, when reached at his Lower Truro, N.S. home.
“That just makes me pissed right off to no end,” he said. “It may be a rude answer, but that’s just the way I feel about it.”
The Victoria Times Colonist received the email Tuesday morning.
The email, sent from an Italian domain name and written in poorly translated English, claims the Larges “are under great pressure coming from family, friends, lawyers, cooperate (sic) bodies and Government since we made this proposition public.
“This is why we needed someone who is anonymous and not connected to this set of people that has been bugging our life with corrupt intention.”
Staff-Sgt. Paul Proulx of the RCMP’s Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre said he considered the email to be a new spin on one of the oldest scams around – advance-fee, or Nigerian-letter fraud.
The scammer typically sends an unsolicited request to share a large sum of money in return for a fee to help with the proceedings. While the author of this most recent email doesn’t ask outright for a fee or personal information, he does say they performed “a personal research for selfless and competent personality. Can we trust you?”
Questionable grammar aside, Proulx credited the scammers for using a recent news story to hook potential victims – particularly Canadian ones.
“I’d say it’s ingenious,” said Proulx. “It’s well done, somebody’s put in quite a bit of time to make this happen.”
Proulx said the RCMP investigates every alleged scam submitted to the fraud centre.
As with all spam, Proulx said the best course of action is to delete it before opening it, regardless of what the email’s subject heading might read.
Large said he won’t let it get to him over the holidays, as he and Violet, 78, intend to spend the last weeks of the year at home, in what must be one of the more low-key Christmases for a couple only five months removed from winning millions.
Large said he and Violet, who recently has undergone chemotherapy for cancer, had just returned Tuesday from an appointment with a specialist in Halifax, where she was given a good prognosis for the coming months.
“She’s coming along pretty well,” Large said. “She’s a long ways from being out of the woods yet, but she’s doing pretty well.”
Article source: http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/rss/article/1364285
Category: Email/Phishing Alerts Scams
