The spam folder in an email inbox can be a murky place – full of messages promising untold riches that are sadly too good to be true.
But as one American woman found out, sifting through your junk messages every now and again can pay off.
Unbeknown to Laura Spears, an email notifying her that she had won a lottery prize of $3m (£2.5m) had been sent to her spam folder.
The 55-year-old – from Oakland County in Michigan – bought a Mega Millions ticket on the Michigan Lottery website for a draw on 31 December last year.
She matched five numbers to win $1m (£740,000) and managed to multiply her prize by three because she had paid for a “Megaplier”.
COMMENTS