FIFA has warned soccer fans not to be fooled by a new World Cup lottery scam sweeping the globe.

The latest World Cup scam takes the form of an e-mail, including official Fifa branding, informing the recipient he or she has won $2.8-million (R24.5-million).

The e-mail tells the recipient he or she is one of three lucky winners in the Fifa 2010 Award draw held in April. It further states all three winning e-mail addresses were randomly selected from about five million international e-mails.

To claim the money, however, the “winner” has to part with a few personal details.

This, a Fifa spokesman said, was where the problem came in and the public should be vigilant.

“Many of these messages appear to be official and ask recipients to provide their personal details, including bank account information, in order to claim the prize- money,” the spokesman said.

Fifa advised that such SMSes or e-mails should be forwarded to the police to be dealt with by their specialised “419 task team”.

All 419 scams can be reported to Colonel Fani on 012-3931203 or 082-7798565 or e-mail 419scam@saps.org.za – Yolandé Stander