419 scam: "PRO"<jmsgary@gmail.com> PROMOTION NOTICE

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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:

An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
- "microsoft lottery" (no such lottery exists)
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.
- +34603167897 (Spain, 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.
- micro93@cooltoad.com (Cooltoad; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
- operation department tel: +34 60-316-78-97 contact email:micro93@cooltoad.com or microsoft14@inbox.lv warning: keep your winning (Cooltoad; can be used from anywhere worldwide)

Fraud email example:

From: "PRO" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <widemicro3@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 2010 15:13:23 +0100
Subject: PROMOTION NOTICE

MICROSOFT AWARD TEAM 2010
Attn:Beneficiary Email Owner,
This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of
€815, 810 EUR Spanish euros Only for the email users this 2010 Prize promotion which is organized by MICROSOFT, We Collects all the email addresses of people worldwide, that are active online this 2010, among the millions that subscribed to MICROSOFT, HOTMAIL, YAHOO, GMAIL Companies domains and few from other e-mail providers, 12 people are selected yearly to benefit from this promotion and you are one of the Selected Winners this end of the year 2010.Your email address has therefore been approved to claim a total sum of (815, 810 EUR euros) in cash.
FILE NUMBER: MIC/903/KPC/0108308/09.
1. Your Full Names:
2. Your Country:
3. Telephone Number:
4. Occupation:
5. Age:
To file for your claim, you are advised to contact your foreign operation manager, without any further delay because your payment file has been forwarded to them for urgent payment of your winning prize, contact the below information as soon as you receive this massage and remember to forward to them the Above File Number And Information’s which will help them to know that you are the rightful beneficiary, then they will instruction you on what to do next to receive your fund.
CONTACT PERSON:DON LA PAZ
FOREIGN OPERATION DEPARTMENT
Tel: +34 60-316-78-97
Contact Email:micro93@cooltoad.com or microsoft14@inbox.lv
WARNING: Keep your winning information confidential until your claims are processed and your fund remitted to you in your bank account. This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program by some unscrupulous elements.
Congratulations once again,
Mrs. Susan Fernandez.
Head Customer care Service
Microsoft Promotion Team
Our special thanks and gratitude to Chairman CEO MICROSOFT Bill Gates and his associates we wish
you the best of luck. Thank you for being part of our promotional award program and commemorative Anniversary.
© Copyright 2010 Microsoft Lottery promotion All Right Reserve"

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam