by
Amir Mahmood Razak
Who wants to be a millionaire? Ahh, I see about 25 million hands up here, so I tell you now the story of how I became a millionaire, a few times over at that.

The first rule of becoming a millionaire is believing that you can indeed be a millionaire; that it is not the domain of those with millionaire lineage or with a self-owned business. After all, I have lived and read enough to see millionaire families ending up as paupers, and businessmen working hard and merely earning enough to keep the minimum credit card payments fulfilled.

By the way, that rule also means that coming from a millionaire family and hard work at a self-owned business is one of many ways to become a millionaire. This must be made clear, lest I offend the millionaire families and the hard-working self-made millionaire.

The second rule is believing in luck, which is how yours truly became a millionaire.

I’m new at this though, as I officially became a millionaire on Monday, May 29, 2006. Yes, it was that recent.

My luck came when I “won” £1.5 million (RM10.05 million) at the UK National Lottery’s Special Draw for Non-UK Citizens. My last trip to the UK was in January last year, when I stayed in Bath for a night, then in London for another. To the best of my memory, I don’t recall buying a lottery ticket while I was there, for my luck was showing at a different kind of game - love - but that’s a story for another day.

On that fateful May day, an email notified me that I had won this amount of money, and I was the happiest man on the universe! Ten million smackeroos! I was already making a call to my portfolio manager, long frustrated with my RM1-and-below IPO strategy.

But my lucky millionaire cruise was only in middle gear, as a second email came in, which notified me that I had won A$400,000 (RM1.08 million) in the Australian National Lottery! The place called Down Under was making me feel mighty Up Above!

Man this was good, as I love going to Australia. It’s a modern, clean and efficient country that to me encapsulates a place to live in. So with this newfound cash, I can now build a comfy little abode there for my kids to stay when they pursue their education Down Under.

The Australian National Lottery was organised by the National Australian Lottery Inc, and I had no reason whatsoever to doubt them. After all, the email carried the name of Australian Prime Minister John Howard! (Ok, Aussies may have a thing or two to say about that last sentence …)

RM11 million and counting …!

And things come in threes? Yep, I will attest to that, as the wonder of the world wide web also led me to an email sent in from Ghana, where a certain bank made more money than it expected - US$3 million (RM10.95 million) to be exact! And all I have to do is admit that it was me that originally deposited the money there, and then the money can be sent into another account. I would pocket 20% of the “extra” funds, which would be US$600,000 (RM2.19 million).

So there you are. The story of how I made more than RM13 million through sheer luck!

And all these con stories before? So have I, and yet you may also hear of people falling for these confidence tricksters again and again. And again. Ouch!

Be careful; it’s a dangerous world out there. I know. Ouch!!

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