The reason why all these lottery notifications always come from Holland

iDeceive has a link that explains why so many of the lottery winning noifications you get in your email are coming from Netherland.

Dutch police arrest 111 West Africans in 419 clampdown

Dutch police have arrested 111 suspected 419 scammers. The arrests on Saturday follow the end of a seven-month investigation - dubbed Operation Apollo, AFP reports.

Eight of those detained were carrying false papers. Many others among the group of West African (mainly Nigerian) suspects are reckoned to have entered the Netherlands illegally or to have overstayed their permitted stay.

The alleged scammers are suspected of running a series of lottery-based (AKA 419-lite) scams. Prospective victims of these frauds are first informed by email that they have won fictitious lottery prizes. Victims are then tricked into handing over money-up front to cover processing fees or other fictitious expenses. The promised windfalls never materialise and dupes are left nursing their losses.
Investigators in the Netherlands estimate that 2,000 internet con-men are active in the country.

Unrelated but interesting : Harvard prof scams $600,000, then hands it to 419ers