419 scam: " Microsoft Awards Center"<tert456@btconnect.com> CONGRATULATIONS YOU HAVE WON (GBP£1,000,000.00)

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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.

Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.

Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!

Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "million british pounds" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- ",000,000" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "00,000.00" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "gregoryjudeawarddepartment01@gala.net" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
This email message is a fake lottery scam. Consider the following facts about real lotteries:
1. They don't notify winners by email.
2. You can't win without first buying a lottery ticket.
3. They don't randomly select email addresses to award prizes to.
4. They don't use free email accounts (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc) to communicate with you.
5. They don't tell you to call a mobile phone number.
6. They don't tell you to keep your winnings secret.
7. They will never ask a winner to pay any fees to receive a prize!
This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
- +447924079956
- +27780531122 (South Africa, prepaid mobile phone)

Fraud email example:

From: " Microsoft Awards Center" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <gregoryjudeawarddepartment01@gala.net>
Date: Tue, 18 May 2010 15:26:57 -0700
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS YOU HAVE WON (GBP£1,000,000.00)

Microsoft Awards Center
124 Stockport Road, Long sight, Manchester M60 2DB – Tel/+447924079956

United Kingdom

This is to inform you that your Email address have won a prize money of One Million British Pounds (£1,000,000.00) for 2010 Email select award Prize promotion which is organized by MICROSOFT

MICROSOFT collects all the email addresses of the people that are active online, among the millions that subscribed to Microsoft Data Base and from other e-mail service providers. Three people are selected every 15 years to benefit from this promotion and you are the Jackpot Select Winner with your Email attached to wining Batch #: MFI/08/APA-43658 won you the JACPORT PRIZE

Winners shall be paid in accordance with his/her Settlement Center. Microsoft Award must be claimed no later than 15 days from date of Draw Notification. Any prize not claimed within this period will be forfeited.

Stated below are your identification numbers: BATCH NUMBER: MFI/08/APA-43658, REFERENCE NUMBER: 2008234522, PIN: 1208
WINNING NUMBER: 01 14 21 30 35 48

These numbers fall within the Johannesburg Location file, you are requested to contact our fiduciary agent in Johannesburg South Africa and send your winning identification numbers to him:

CONTACT YOUR CLAIMS AGENT
NAME: DR Omar Jude Gergory
E-Mail: gregoryjudeawarddepartment01@gala.net
TEL: +27 780531122

You are advised to send the following information to your Claims Agent to facilitate the release of of your fund to you.

1. Full name..............................
2. Country..................................
3. Contact Address.....................
4. Telephone Number.................
5. Fax Number.... ........................
5. Marital Status.........................
6. Occupation.............................
7. My Date of birth.....................
8. Sex.................................
9. Batch Number.................................
10. Reference Number.................................
11. Pin Number................................
12. Winning Number................................
13. Amount Won................................

We deeply appreciate and thank you for using Microsoft products all this years
Congratulations!!

Yours in service,
Dr. (Mrs.) Mercy Martins

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam