This story has been posted as a comment by a reader. Usually I leave the comments where they are, but I thought this was too important so I have copied it as a post.
Although the tone of this blog is lighthearted I am fully aware that these scams are serious. My hope is that this blog will help prevent more people from falling victim to the scammers. This is the story of a reader who, sadly, learned the hard way.
after being sent an e-mail on how i am surposed to have won in a lotto the shock and the horror being told ye you have won but you got to pay us first £650.00 damn how dum do i look i never give money away,, thats like paying for my phone before i get the bill… well all i can say is .. well the shock of how i got took in on this.. i could understand a bill after getting the money but not before so because of this i will now go and investigate the irish lotto to see how this has come about.. plus cant get hold of anyone even after the so called win,, if this was a so called win never pay out before you get the money in the bank.
protect me with trial exemple.