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In the EU, similar anti-spam legislation has been passed and the UK is close to finalising its own new laws to stem the tide.

In the USA, many individual states have already implemented anti-spam laws and now there's a move to implement a nation-wide don't spam me list.

And here in NZ, our e-alert government is doing... err.. well it looks like not very much actually.

But today's column isn't about the fact that a problem that costs Kiwi businesses many millions of dollars a year is effectively being dodged by government.

No, today's column is about one of the reasons why we need to crush spam.

I refer of course to the effects that spam can have on really stupid people.

Have you ever noticed that the words "spam" and "scam" are very similar?

That's no coincidence folks -- as my mailbox revealed this week.

First-up, I got an email happily said:

CONGRATULATIONS! You are entitled to a prize sum of US$2,500,000.00. Reference number for your prize is KP6821873DL; ticket number A/03-4912.

Oh yes.. I am a winner! Whoopee!

The email went on to tell me that only six winners emerged in the category and therefore both are to receive payouts of US$2,500,000.00 from the total US$15,000,000.00

Now if I were a really stupid person, I might be tempted to respond to this email, whereupon I'm certain there'd be a demand for some kind of fee to cover the costs of remitting these lucky millions of dollars.

However, the dumbest person associated with this scam is the spammer who sent it. I'm sure that even the slowest and most gullible recipient might have just noticed the 200+ other email addresses that were included in the "to" field of the header who would have received exactly the same message.

Duh!

But not all s(c/p)ammers are so stupid.

This week I also received an email telling me that I could be the heir to a small fortune because someone who might be related to me had invested a large sum before they died intestate.

The email professed to be from "Lochinvar Investigations" of London and they claimed to be operating on behalf of the HSBC in their attempts to find a home for this cash.

As if the whole premise wasn't dubious enough, I noticed that the sender was using a free email address rather than one from their own domain name. This is even more curious when your check out this website which appears to be that of a bonafide business.

So, in my usual sleuth-like way, I fired a copy of the suspected s(c/p)am off to the contact address given on the website and asked if it was kosher or whether someone was using their good name in vain.

No response.

So, either the Lochinvar Investigations website is simply another part of the scam -- built to increase the would-be victim's confidence level, or the company doesn't read its email, or care.

My belief that this email was a scam was confirmed when, just a day later, I received another copy which was identical in every way except for the sender's name and the use of a different free email address. Here are copies of the messages.

Note that they even spelt the company name wrong in the body of the email!

I have no doubt that those who respond to such messages will be told that fortune awaits them -- so long as they ante-up a small "processing fee" or something similar.

Now there can be no doubt that right now there are dozens, perhaps hundreds, or maybe even thousands of Kiwis who are sending off their credit card details to cover the costs associated with claiming their winnings or inheritance.

What's worse, the chances are that those who fall for these s(c/p)ams are those who can least afford to be duped.

And this is why our government needs to haul its bum out of Bellamy's and get working on some anti-spam legislation so that we can catch up to the rest of the world. It might not solve the problem (only education can do that) but at least it will be a start!

If any Aardvark readers want to share an opinion on today's column or add something, you're invited to chip in and have your say in The Aardvark Forums or, if you prefer, you can contact me directly.

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