“Spam Spam Spam Sausage and Spam!” The words from the hilarious Monty Python sketch play unbounded in my mind every time I hear the word “Spam”.

Unfortunately these days the inedible version of Spam is far from funny as it clogs our Internet and wastes our valuable time filtering through garbage email. Some of these emails just happen to be scam Spam about a “Yahoo Lottery” that claims the recipient has won the Yahoo Lottery and these emails go on to request everything from social security numbers to credit card information in order to claim said prize. Well in case you didn’t know there is no such thing as a Yahoo Lottery and Yahoo has had quite enough of hearing about it. Today Yahoo pronounced on the Yahoo Anecdotal blog that the company has decided to go after these spammers without mercy.

In a post called “Scammers Take Notice”, Mark Risher of Yahoo! Mail refers to a lawsuit Yahoo launched on May 27th against alleged scammers conducting the Yahoo Lottery scam.

“We won’t tolerate these hoax emails or having our brand used to deceive you, and we’re seeking maximum damages permissible by law.” Says Mark Risher in the posting.

In the meantime Mark offers five tips that it many unfortunate people wish they could have seen before they were scooped up and spit out by the Yahoo Lottery Scam. Don’t make the same mistakes other unfortunate people have.

Here are some other resources available on current email and other Internet scams:

  1. Is there a Yahoo! Lottery? – Yahoo’s FAQ on the subject; where Yahoo’s understandable frustration about the whole situation comes across loud and clear.
  2. The latest Internet hoaxes shown by Hoax-Slayer including viruses, phishing, etc.
    — Here is the direct link to the site’s advisory for email lottery scams.
  3. The FBI’s Cyber Investigations team lists new e-Scams and other warnings.
by Ross Dunn, CEO, StepForth Web Marketing Inc.