Is this real? Did I just strike it rich!?

I just checked my e-mail and there was this message titled Congratulations You Have Won! from SAFA (whatever that stands for) normally I do not fall for these types of things, I was just wondering if I should e-mail back? This is what the e-mail said:



Congratulations. The South African football association, safa is proud to inform you that you have just won Two Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars (US$2.500, 000.00).





This lottery is sponsored by South African football association, safa with fifty-six, 56 cooperate bodies.South Africa will be hosting the soccer world cup in the year 2010.this will be the first ever World Cup to be held in the continent of Africa. And we are celebrating this golden opportunity with this lottery.





We are also using this lottery to create awareness towards the hosting of the world cup in 2010 in South Africa.Don鈥檛 be surprise that you are one of our winners. The aims of this lottery are to surprise our winners.Is this real? Did I just strike it rich!?
Another take off on an old theme.

I have been chosen to inherit untold millions from people that died in Africa and have won several European lotteries that I never entered.

Funny I still have to work for a living.

You realize if you contact them they will need your bank account and personal information. Just to be sure you are the person they are giving all this money away to and to be sure they send it to the right account.

You'll get a surprise if you contact them...you'll suddenly acquire a lot of new debt.
Do NOT, under ANY circumstances email them..!!!



At the best, you will confirm your email address to spammers, AND confirm that not only is your email address valid, but you actually READ your spam.



2nd it is a SCAM designed to entice you to send them money as a processing fee etc...



All they want is your bank account information and/or cash.Is this real? Did I just strike it rich!?
http://dumbscams.wordpress.com/2008/04/1鈥?/a>



http://419.bittenus.com/lotteries/Confed鈥?/a>



http://www.419legal.org/lottery-scam-let鈥?/a>



http://www.urgentmessage.org/highlyconfi鈥?/a>
You can never win a lottery you didn't enter. Also, with 56 corporate sponsors, you'd think there would be an actually SAFA email account and website mentioned.



Scam.Is this real? Did I just strike it rich!?
You and 1 billion other lucky winners.

Hahahaha!

They will ask for info and money, use your info to make fake I.D.'s and possibly get you into credit or legal trouble.
Are you kidding me? South Africa.. is this written by 5th graders?



Don't fall for it.
Hah, a South African Organization with a HONG KONG domain prefix...?
SPAM
DO NOT ANSWER THIS EMAIL!!!!! IT'S A HUGE SCAM!!!! PEOPLE HAVE BEEN SENDING ME THOSE THINGS FOR A LONG TIME NOW!! SPAM IT!!
A complete and total scam! Run away from this. It is a fake, it is a variation on one of many many scams out there. The moment you get an unfamiliar e-mail telling you won something, especially if it's outside your own country, a lottery or any other kind of contest, it's a scam. It can actually be illegal to enter such a contest, but aside from that, you didn't enter, it's something you've never heard of, and that should be a MAJOR RED FLAG! Do not respond, if you do, they will try to get your get account information, your Social Security info and so on, in other words, they want to steal your identity and rip you off.



General rule 1: if it's too good to be true, it's a fake.

General rule 2: if you don't know who they are/have never heard of the organization, do not respond.



And another Red Flag is the part of the message telling you not to tell anyone about it. OF COURSE they don't want you telling anyone about it, because you'll find out it's a scam!