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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

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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.

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:

• The following fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
  • "microsoft corporation word lottery" (no such lottery exists)
  • "ms-word lotto" (no such lottery exists)
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "from: the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "claims office" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • ",500,000" (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)
• 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.
  • +2348034418060 (Nigeria, prepaid mobile phone)
• This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
  • mswpaymentofficeaward_208@yahoo.co.uk
  • aymentofficeaward_208@yahoo.co.uk

Fraud email example:

From: "MSW LOTTERY AWARD UNIT" <mswloto2009@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 6 Sep 2008 06:38:30 -0700
Subject: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?CONGRATULATIONS!!!!_YOU_HAVE_WON_LOTTERY_?= =?ISO-8859-1?Q?PRIZE_FROM_MICROSOFT_COMPANY(=A3800,000.00)?=


*
FROM: THE DESK OF THE E-MAIL PROMOTIONS MANAGER INTERNATIONAL
PROMOTIONS/PRIZE
AWARD DEPARTMENT, MICROSOFT CORPORATION WORD LOTTERY

REFERENCE NO: MSW-L/200-26937
BATCH NO: 2008 SEPTEMBER L#22
WINNER NO: 5

ELECTRONIC MAIL AWARD WINNING NOTIFICATION
AWARD PRESENTATION CENTER: AFRICA


WINNING NOTIFICATION !


Dear Sir/ Madam,

We the MICROSOFT COOPERATION MANAGEMENT WORLDWIDE are pleased to inform you
that you're among our winners of MS-WORD LOTTO LOTTERY conducted in
the AFRICA BEING THE HOST OF THE EVENT FOR THIS PRESENT YEAR MEGA JACKPOT
LOTTO WINNING PROGRAMS HELD ON THE 4th OF SEPTEMBER 2008.HOWEVER THE RESULTS
WERE RELEASED ON THE 5th OF SEPTEMBER,2008.

Your Personal E-mail address or Company email is attached to WINNER NO: 5
JULY L-2007-02MSW, with serial number S/N-00168 drew the lucky
numbers887-13-865-37-10-83, and consequently won in the first lottery
category. You
have therefore been approved for lump sums pay of GBP
£800,000.00 (Eight hundred Thousand Pounds Sterling Only) in cash Credited
to file REF NO:MSW-L/200-26937 this is from total prize money of GBP
£27,500,000.00 POUNDS, shared among the Twenty-five (25) lucky international
winners in first and second category.

All participants were selected from Worldwide Websites especially
yahoo<http://www.yahoo.com/>mail,msn mail,aol mail, icq mail through
our Microsoft computer ballot
system drawn from 21,000 Names, 3,000 names from each continent (Canada,
Asia, Australia, United state, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Oceania , as
part of International "E-MAIL" Promotions Program, Which is conducted
annually for our prominent MS -WORD users all over the world, and to
encourage the use of Internet and Computers worldwide. *
*
Your fund has been insured with your REF NO: MSW-L/200-26937 and will be
ready for delivery. It will be delivered to you by one of our
PaymasterStaff in charge of
AFRICA Zone (PROF AHMED WAHEED). Your E-mail address should be used in all
correspondence with your claims officer, please Note that, you are to
contact your claims officer via email and phone as we are promoting the use
of E-mail. Also you have the right to call him to confirm your winnings and
government tax payment that is all, as he will provide you with the
necessary details on how to claim Your prize.

You are to keep your REF NUMBERS and BATCH NUMBER from the public, until you
have been processed and your prize money delivered to you. This is part of
our security protocol to avoid double claiming and the act of scamming
people of their ref number and prizes. We hope with a part of your prize,
you will participate in our end of the year High stakes of US$0.3billion
International Lottery. To claim your winning prize, you must first contact
our claims department by email for Processing and remittance of your prize
money to you.
THE PAYMASTER OFFICER CONTACT EMAIL IS:*
* *
*NAME: PROF AHMED WAHEED*
*EMAIL: mswp <mswpaymentofficeaward_208@yahoo.co.uk><mswpaymentofficeaward_208@yahoo.co.uk>
aymentofficeaward_208@yahoo.co.uk <mswpaymentofficeaward_208@yahoo.co.uk>*
*+234 803 441 8060.

YOU HAVE TO CONTACT YOUR PAYMASTER WITH THE MICROSOFT WINNER'S
APPLICATION/VERIFICATION FORM OF PAYMENT PROCESSING **
WINNER'S PERSONAL DATA
1.First Name..........
2.Middle Name........
3.Last Name............
4.Gender............
5.Month Of Birth... Day.. Year...
6.Marital Status............
7.Nationality............
8.Religion...............
9.Occupation/Company`s Name.:
10.Passport Photocopy .....*
*11.Mobile phone No.............
12.House Phone No...............
13.Email Address.: .eg.
username@dormainname.com<http://us.mc593.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=username@dormainname.com>
*
*WINNING INFORMATION.
14.Ref Number...........
15.Batch Number...........
16.Winner Number...........
17.Amount Won..............*
*MODE OF PAYMENT CHOOSE*
*BANK TO BANK TRANSFER YES /NO**
18.Bank Name............
19.Bank Address................
20.Bank Account No............*
* *
*COURIER DELIVERY YES /NO*
* *
*21.Residential Address 1...
22Address 2..........
23.City...............
24.State/Province...........
25.Zip Code.............*
*
Remember, all prize money must be claimed not later than the 30TH
OF SEPTEMBER ,2008. All funds not Claimed on or before the fixed date will
be returned as Unclaimed and will be seen as forfeited by you hence will be
donated to charity organization around the world.

NOTE: In order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications, please
remember to quote your reference and batch numbers in all correspondences
with your claims officer. Do not reply any other mails like this on net, as
they are a lot of scam artist out there pretending to be us. You may see
mails like this do not reply. Do contact your claims officer PROF AHMED
WAHEED at once,you will be asked to provide some details to enable the
office proceed with your winning certificate and file keeping.

Congratulations, once more from the entire Management and Staff of Microsoft
Cooperation to all our lucky winners this year. Thank you for being part of
this promotional lottery program. Our special thanks and gratitude to Bill
Gate of Microsoft and all his Associates for alliviating poverty round the
World. *

*Sincerely,*
** *
LOTTERY SPONSORS: *
*CHIEF SPONSORS;

MICROSOFT CORPORATION UK, MICROSOFT CORPORATION AFRICA,
MICROSOFT CORPORATION USA, MICROSOFT CORPORATION ASIA*

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam