419 scam: "M.S.PRO. ZONAL COORDINATOR." <etubest@hotmail.com> MICROSOFT WINNING NOTIFICATION

joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet

Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days

Home

About Us

Spam

419/Nigeria

Fraud

Contact

"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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
- "microsoft lottery" (no such lottery exists)
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "will come to you as a surprise" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "cheque " (Beware of any scheme that involves cashing checks or money orders and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere - you'll be liable for the entire amount if the checks or money orders turn out to be fake, even after you have received and forwarded cash. If it's a lottery prize, remember that real lotteries do not pay large prizes by check. They wire the money directly to your bank account and you do not pay for that. Many scammers promise a large check only in order to then demand payment of courier fees for a fake courier service. )
- "microftcoperation@tranphu.com" (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.
- +447011121039 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: "M.S.PRO. ZONAL COORDINATOR." <etubest@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: microftcoperation@tranphu.com
Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2010 10:25:49 +0100 (BST)
Subject: MICROSOFT WINNING NOTIFICATION

Microsoft Promotion Award Team
Dr.Helen Gibson
Stamford New Road,
Altrincham Cheshire
WA14 1EP
London.
United Kingdom.

MICROSOFT WINNING NOTIFICATION

It is obvious that this notification will come to you as a
surprise but please find time to read it carefully as we
congratulate you over your success in the following official
publication of results of the E-mail electronic online Sweepstakes
organized by Microsoft, in conjunction with the foundation for the
promotion of software products, (F.P.S.) held this month of
October 2010, in London United Kingdom. Where your email address
emerged as one of the online Winning emails in the 2nd category
and therefore attracted a cash award of 950,000.00 {Nine Hundred
and Fifty Thousand Great British Pounds Sterling's}.

The selection process was carried out through random selection in
our Computerized Email Selection System (C.E.S.S.) from a database
of over a million email addresses from each continent of the world
wide web drawn from all the continents of the world.

They are arranged in this format below:

CATEGORY NO.OF WINNERS WINNING PRIZES
1st. (2) 1.000.000.00 pounds each
2nd. (6) 950,000.00 pounds each
3rd. (13) 750,000.00 pounds each
4th. (27) 550,000.00 pounds each

We write to officially notify you of this award and to advise you
to contact the processing office immediately upon receipt of this
message for more information concerning the verification,
processing and eventual payment of the above prize to you. It is
important to note that your award information was released with
the following particulars attached to it.

(1) Award numbers: MLAT#2010
(2) Email ticket numbers: 1587-5896-4598-87,
(3) Batch numbers: 950THL#2010
(4) The file reference numbers: MLY-Y/250-450890
(5) Serial Numbers: McST/776/ML10101
For verification purpose be sure to include:

VERIFICATION AND FUNDS RELEASE FORM-:
1. Full Names:
2. Sex:
3. Age:
4. Marital Status:
5. Nationality:
6. Residential Address: :
7. Occupation/Position Held:
8. Telephone Number:
9. Fax Number:
10. Have you ever won an Online Lottery ?

Mode of Prize Remittance.
*Courier Delivery Of your Certified Winning Cheque Name and other
Winning Documents safely to you.

To file for your claim, Please contact your Validating Officer for
VALIDATION of your winning within Twenty-nine working days of this
winning notification. Winnings that are not validated within
Twenty-nine working days of winning notification are termed void
and invalid. You are required to mention the above particulars of
your award in every correspondence to enable the Agent validate
your winning.
***********************************************************
FOREIGN TRANSFER MANAGER
MR. ANDERSON GREY
MICROSOFT SECURITY DEPARTMENT (UK).
M.S.PRO. ZONAL COORDINATOR
Email: microftcoperation@tranphu.com
Telephone: +44-701-112-1039

***********************************************************

The Microsoft Internet E-mail lottery Awards is sponsored by our
CEO/Chairman, Bill Gates and a consortium of software promotion
companies. The Intel Group, Toshiba, Dell Computers and other
International Companies. The Microsoft internet E-mail draw is
held periodically and is organized to encourage the use of the
Internet and promote computer literacy worldwide. The Microsoft
Window lottery has discovered a huge number of double claims due
to winners informing close friends relatives and third parties
about their winning and also sharing their pin numbers.

As a result of this, these friends try to claim the lottery on
behalf of the real winners. The Microsoft lottery has reached a
decision from headquarters that any double claim discovered by the
Lottery Board will result to the Canceling of that particular
winning, making a loss for both the double claimer and the real
winner, as it is taken that the real winner was the informer to
the double claimer about the lottery. So you are hereby strongly
advised once more to keep your winnings strictly confidential
until you claim your prize.

Once again on behalf of all our staff,

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Sincerely,

MICROSOFT DIRECTORATE UNIT
M.S.PRO. ZONAL COORDINATOR.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam