419 scam: "microsoft@msn.com"<microsoft@msn.com> You have won a lump sum of GBP 1,000,000 (one million great britain pounds ster

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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 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")
- ",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)
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.
- +447035922945 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
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.
- claims.agent.department@representative.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "microsoft@msn.com" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <claims.agent.department@representative.com>
Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2012 14:16:02 -0700
Subject: You have won a lump sum of GBP 1,000,000 (one million great britain pounds sterlings)

FROM: THE DESK OF THE E-MAIL PROMOTIONS MANAGER INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT, MICROSOFT CORPORATION WORD LOTTERY
UNITED KINGDOM . 61-70 Southampton Row, Blooms bury London United Kingdom WC1B 4AR.

REFERENCE NO: MSW-L/200-26937
BATCH NO: 2012 FEB. L#22
WINNER NO: 5

ELECTRONIC MAIL AWARD WINNING NOTIFICATION
AWARD PRESENTATION CENTER : UNITED KINGDOM

WINNING NOTIFICATION !

Dear Sir/ Madam,

We the MICROSOFT MANAGEMENT WORLDWIDE are pleased to inform you that you're among our award winners of MS-WORD LOTTO LOTTERY conducted in the UNITED KINGDOM (LONDON) BEING THE HOST OF THE EVENT FOR THIS PRESENT YEAR.

Your Personal E-mail address or Company email is attached to WINNER NO: 5,Feb-2012-02 MSW, with serial number S/N-00168 drew the lucky numbers 887-13-865-37-10-83, and consequently won in the first lottery category. You have therefore been approved for lump sums pay of GBP 1,000,000.00 (One Million Great British Pounds Sterling Only) in cash Credited to file REF NO:MSW-L/200-26937.

All participants were selected from Worldwide especially all email domain users eg:Yahoo 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 payment.

Your Award winning prize will be paid to you by one of our Staff in charge of UNITED KINGDOM (LONDON) payment center (Bill Peterson). 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 he will provide you with the necessary details on how to claim Your prize.

You are to keep your REF NUMBERS and BATCH NUMBER away from the general public, until your winning prize is processed and transferred to you. This is part of our security protocol to avoid nullification of claims.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:
(PLEASE REPLY WITH THIS EMAIL BELOW)

PAYMASTER/CLAIM AGENT:
NAME: Bill Peterson
EMAIL: claims.agent.department@representative.com
Phone no: +44 703 592 2945

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.Mobile phone No.............
11.House Phone No...............

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 Gates of Microsoft and all his Associates for alleviating poverty round the World.

Sincerely,
Bill Peterson
Microsoft Cooperation Department

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam