Great news! I've just been advised by email:

In view of the yearly sweepstake of the above named organization held on the 8th of September,2006.It is my pleasure to inform you that your e-mail address attached to the above Ref No came up in the third dip. This invariably means that you have emerged as the prize recipient in the third category with an allocated sum of Eight Hundred and Fifty Thousand United States Dollars(850.000.00USD). Be informed that all participants were selected from a randon computing ballot system.This charitable sweepstake is sponsored by a group of corporate organizations and governmental parastatals drawn from major cities in Europe.

My dictionary tells me "randon" is an obsolete form of "random" and that "parasatatal" means "owned or controlled wholly or partly by the government". I think the strange wording invariably means I'm being scammed by somebody for whom English is not a first language.