Scams weren't just appearing in email inboxes this past week. Scams were mailed to people around the country - all promising financial windfall, for a price.
• "Lorenzo Luigi and Associates" wrote to New Zealanders claiming they were a law firm that had a client who had died, leaving an estate of €6.5 million ($10m). No relatives had been found, "barrister" Lorenzo Luigi said, so he was writing to other people around the world with the same last name so that they could claim the money, give 20 per cent to charity and split the remaining 80 per cent with him. All willing participants had to do was hand over all their personal information, their bank details, and likely some cash to expedite the process.
• A letter claiming to be from Alfred Bolton, "chief finance" at Lloyds TSB, has also arrived, telling Kiwis they have an unclaimed £980,000 ($1.8m) prize waiting for them. Again, personal details must be disclosed. "EuroLotto" sent a similar letter.
• Pacific Express told people they had a parcel waiting that included a cheque for £1 million, a Blackberry, laptop, T-shirt and "face cap" - all part of a fantastic prize from "Free Lotto Lottery". For diplomatic delivery of their prize, recipients were asked to send £700.
