Lottery scam quick guide: it's a scam if...

  • you win any lottery where you didn't buy a ticket! It's really that easy! It's not just too good to be true: it's bait in a trap!
  • you receive a generous grant out of the blue. Sadly (but not surprisingly) there aren't any benevolent people regularly throwing around millions of pounds/dollars/euros to randomly chosen people. This is just the lottery scam without the ticket.
  • they send you partial payment in the form of a cheque, money order, or direct bank transfer and want you to pay them fees out of that money. They're playing you for a sucker: cheques are frequently forged, and direct transfers made by compromising some poor schmuck's online banking service. You'll wind up a victim of fraud, or a party to it.
  • they want you to send them any money of any sort for any reason. They might try to say there are courier fees or taxes to cover. They're lying. Call their bluff and tell them to take the fees out themselves -- they'll never ever agree, because they can't defraud you unless money is making the reverse trip from you to them somehow.

Thursday, November 09, 2006

MICROSOFTWARE WORLD PROMOTION YOUR EMAIL ID HAS WON!!!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: MICROSOFT INTERNATIONAL PROMO <[fake address redacted]@microsoft.com>
Date: 10-Nov-2006 01:09
Subject: MICROSOFTWARE WORLD PROMOTION YOUR EMAIL ID HAS WON!!!
To:


MICROSOFTWARE WORLD PROMOTION YOUR EMAIL ID HAS WON!!!
Boeing Avenue 336612
PE Schiphol-Rijk. The Netherlands.

RESULTS FOR CATEGORY "A" DRAWS

Congratulations to you as we bring to your notice the results of the
first Category draws of MICROSOFT PROMOTION INT. We are happy to
inform you that you have emerged a winner under the First Category,
which is part of our promotional draws.

The draws was officially announced on 4th of November 2006.
Participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn
from 2,500,000 email addresses of individuals and companies from
Africa, America Asia, Australia, Europe, Middle East, and Oceania as
part of our International Promotions Program.

Your e-mail address, attached to ticket number QZ-316-NL, with serial
number 8222-66 drew the lucky numbers 9-17-5-73-8-11 and consequently
won in the First Category. You have therefore been awarded a lump sum
pay out of 1,000,000(One Million Euros), which is the winning payout
for Category A winners.

This is from the total prize money 1,500,000 shared among the two
winners in this category CONGRATULATIONS! Your fund is now deposited
with the paying Bank.

In your best interest to avoid Disqualification we request that you
keep the entire details of your award strictly from public notice
until the process of transferring your claims has been completed, and
your funds remitted to your account.

This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming or
unscrupulous acts by non winners of this program.

You are advised to contact claim department by email and failure to
do so may warrant disqualification.

NOTE: for easy reference and identification, find below your
Reference and Batch numbers. Remember to quote these numbers in your
correspondence with your claims Department.

REFERENCE NUMBER: LSLUK/2031/8161/04 BATCH NUMBER: 14/011/IPD

Please contact Microsoft claim department immediately for due
processing and remittance of your prize money to a designated account
of your choice:

******************************************************
Dr.Michael Van.Beaker
Tel.:+31-613-602-335.
Email:baristervanbeak@netscape.net
Email:baristervanbeak@aim.com
******************************************************
N.B: Any breach of confidentiality on the part of the winners will
result to disqualification. Contact your claim department immediately.

Sincerely Yours,
Mrs. Betty Rice
PROMOTION CORDINATOR

No comments: