I once received a similar e-mail that I had won a Nokia promotion lottery – and I didn’t own a Nokia at that time.

Still I was so intrigued that I decided to take a couple of moves as requested (being careful not to divulge anything which they didn’t obviously already know). I was surprised by how well-knit these scams are.

I was even given a name and address of an attorney in London where I could go, and that of a manager at the Standard Chartered Bank – one of the more reputable banks around.

Pity I wasn’t going to London anytime soon. An old adage has it that if you want to bathe in money you could try and earn it, maybe steal it or possibly inherit it – but never to receive it for nothing.