Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Think of the poor people! (Take their money.)

This one is unique: rather than a lottery, help transferring some money for some unspecified reason, or an inheritance, this one claims I won a grant from Shell Oil to "alleviate poverty across the globe." I guess the poverty that this is supposed to alleviate is, well, mine...:
NOTICE OF GRANT AWARD

The Shell Petroleum Foundation United Kingdom is glad
to notify you that you have been chosen by the board of trustees and
after series of secret deliberations selected you as one of the final
recipients of a cash Grant/Donation for your own personal, alleviate
poverty across the globe, and business development. The Shell Petroleum
Foundation United Kingdom, it was established in the year 2000 by the Shell
Multi-Million Groups and is now supported by the Yahoo
Incorporation,Microsoft Corporation and Emirates Airlines. To celebrate the
7th
anniversary program, the Shell Petroleum Foundation United Kingdom in
conjunction with other relevant bodies is giving out a yearly donation
of £4,500,000 GB Pounds (Four Million,Five Hundred Pounds Starlings) to
10 lucky recipients.

...

Kindly note that you will only be chosen to receive the donation
once, which means that subsequent yearly donation will not
get to you again. Take time and thought in spending the donation
wisely on a project that will stand the test of time.You were selected
among thelucky recipients to receive the award sum of £450,000.00 GB
Pounds (Four Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds Starlings) as charity
donations/Grant
from the Shell Petroleum Foundation United Kingdom in accordance with
the enabling act of Parliament. You will be required to fill the form below
and email it to ourFinance Officer below for documentation and processing
of the remittance of yourgrant.

The stupid thing about this "grant", of course, is that even though I'm only one of ten lucky people who have been selected as deserving of this grant, they still want my name, address, occupation, gender, phone number, and presumably as we move forward social security number and a deposit of some kind to help transfer the money to my bank account.

You'd think if I was one of ten selected in a given year from a 4.5 million pound sterling grant, they'd spend an extra 10 minutes to remember my contact information...

Total To Date: $31,275,000

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