Cyberscam strikes Massachusetts state lottery

Computerworld - Scam artists have spoofed the Web site of the Massachusetts State Lottery Commission in an attempt to steal personal and financial information from lottery players across the country.
The fake lottery Web site, www.mass-lottery.org, which was hosted by Clifton, N.Y.-based HostRocket.com Inc., had been taken down by this afternoon. But the site, which was registered on June 13, was nearly identical to the Massachusetts Lottery Commission's official site, www.masslottery.com, according to lottery spokeswoman Amy Morris.
Morris said the spoofed site operators, believed to be in Nigeria, sent e-mails, as well as text messages via cell phones, telling people that they had won $30,000 in the Massachusetts State Lottery.
Once consumers clicked on a link contained in the e-mail or text messages, they were taken to an official-looking Web site, asked to key in user names and passwords provided to them in the e-mail, and then asked to supply personal information, including a credit card number and a Social Security number, Morris said.
They were also asked to pay a $100 processing fee, she said.
According to Morris, about 200 people have notified the Lottery Commission about these e-mails since May, and some had given out their personal data. She said the Lottery Commission has no way of knowing how many other people may have fallen victim to the scam.
"In May, there was another [spoof] Web site set up at www.mass-lotto.org, which has since been taken down," Morris said. "But we don't know how many others there might be."
Troy Irick, director of community relations at Huntington College in Huntington, Ind., contacted lottery officials a couple of weeks ago to alert them to the scam. Irick said he received an e-mail that read "from administrator," and when he opened it he was told he had won $30,000.
"I don't live anywhere near Massachusetts, and I don't play the lottery," Irick said. "But I was intrigued because when I clicked on the link, I was taken to a Web site that looked almost identical to the Massachusetts State Lottery Web site."
Irick said red flags went up when he was asked for his personal information and asked to pay a processing fee in order to collect his winnings.
"They led you to believe you were selected in a charity-type game, and 10% of your winnings would go to charity," Irick said. "It smelled bad, so I did a Google search for the Massachusetts Web site and saw that they had a warning about these [scams] on their site, so I forwardedthem the e-mail."
Morris said the Lottery Commission is working with the FBI to track down the perpetrators.

Read more about Cybercrime and Hacking in Computerworld's Cybercrime and Hacking Topic Center.