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I thought I’d share a new twist on the existing lottery winner scam. I had a spam email that was sent to me this week. Oddly enough it was in german yet when translated thanks to Google it referenced a lottery winner that was from the US.
Here’s the thing this scam is using some valid information. Such as the lottery winner was from the US. New York state to be exact and they even added a few new twists such as a Youtube video reference and a national newspaper article as well.
The email info
The email was sent from Robert Bailey <robert8701a@gmail.com> yet had a reply to email of robertbaileym02@gmail.com
So that sort of set off a few red flags.
the email text
as I stated the email was originally sent to me in German. But here’s the translated version. Granted some wording may be a bit off due to the translation.
Good day dear beneficiary
You receive this e-mail from Robert Bailey Foundation. I am a
retired government employee from Harlem and winner of the
Powerball Lottery jackpot worth $ 343.8 million. I am the
largest jackpot winner of the New York lottery history, United States
of America. I won this lottery on 27 October 2018 and
I would like to inform you that Google in conjunction with Microsoft
Your submitted at my request “email address” that you
received a donation of 3,000,000.00 million EUR. I donate
that amount of 3 million euros to you in order to
to help charity homes and the poor in your community,
so that we can make the world a better place for all. On
the following website for more information to help you
This donation not be skeptical in the amount of EUR 3 million.https://nypost.com/2018/11/14/meet-the-winner-of-the-biggest-lottery-jackpot-in-neue-york-geschichte/
You can also check out my YouTube to for more information
received: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5vT18YsavcPlease reply by: (robertbaileym02@gmail.com) so that we
so the responsible bank can proceed to give you a
ATM card can create worth 3 million EUR, which you
comes with this bank card PIN code for the
Access to the donations. Please note that all answers
must be sent to robertbaileym02@gmail.com for more
for information on how this donation via the universal
receive cash card that sent to you as soon as possible
becomes. Sign Up now to me.Kind regards,
Robert Bailey
Powerball jackpot winner
spam email donate 1 
spam email dontate 2nd half of message
what I found out
I did a quick Google search and I found out that Robert Bailey is a real person. He was a Power Ball winner back in 2018. The video link that is referenced does show up on YouTube. I didn’t watch it but it’s there. Now for the New York Post link the article is not longer listed.
This scam seems to be from late 2019 and has a few different versions but most have large money amounts claiming you’ve earned a donation at random.
What I found odd
Granted it’s spam but you never know if it will end up in anyone’s inbox. one thing i found odd was that the email was sent in German. Also, why was the money in Euros and not US dollars? If the sender claims they are a US power ball lottery winner try to send funds from overseas.
Another thing I found interested was that the offer of Euros was 3 million. It seems when checking the conversion rate to USD it would be around the same amount.
Here’s what not to do
don’t reply back as we know you will not gain 3 million Euros via an ATM card nor will you get any money. I’m guessing this is just another play on the lottery winner and wire transfer scams. They figure someone will jump a the chance for free money.
what you can do
For me, Gmail marked this as spam. If it ends up in your inbox you can mark it as spam and block the sender. You can also report it as phishing.
