An interesting email scam...

[HB1965]

I found this in my junk mail. A very good scam. I don't recall signing up for this.



MOTTO: FIGHTING POVERTY ROUND THE WORLD!!!



Microsoft-AOL Lottery Award Promotions

20 Craven Park, Harlesden London

NW10 United Kingdom

Ref: BTD/968/0

Batch: 40997

Congratulations!



Dear Winner,



The prestigious Microsoft and AOL Lottery has set out and successfully organized a Sweepstakes marking the Easter 2008 celebrations. We rolled out over US$41, 849,564 for the Easter 2008 celebrations Draws. Participants for the draws were randomly selected and drawn from a wide range of web hosts which we enjoy their patronage.



The selection was made through a c computer draw system attaching personalized- mail addresses to ticket numbers. If you ignore this, you will regret it later. Microsoft and AOL Lottery are now the largest Internet companies and in an effort to make sure that Internet Explorer remains the most widely used program; Microsoft and AOL Lottery are running an e-mail beta.



Your email add ress as indicated was drawn and attached to ticket number 008795727498 with serial numbers BTD/90 80648302/08 and drew the lucky numbers; 12 -18-25-28-43-49 bonus (10) which subsequently won you US$950,000.00 (Nine Hundred and Fifty Thousand United States Dollars) as one of the 10 jackpot winners in th is draw. You have therefore won the entire winning sum of US$950 ,000.0 0 ( Nine Hundred and Fifty Thousand United States Dollars) the draws registered as Draw number one was conducted in Brockley, London United Kingdom on the 1st of April, 2008. These Draws are commemorative and as such special. &nb sp;



Please be informed by this winning notification, to file your claims. You are to make contact with your designated agent who shall by duty guide you through the process to facilitate the release of your prize. To file for your claim Plea se Contact your delivery agency in the contact information below:



Delivery agency conta ct information:

Name of claim agency firm: Microsoft Award Client Services

60 Great Ormond Street,

Johannesburg,

South Africa.

Tel: +27-78-477-8057

Emailatrickvusi_southafrica1@hotmail.com

Email: micropayagent@webmail.co.za

Contact Person: Dr. Patrick Vusi.



You are advised to contact your fiduciary agent with the following details to avoid unnecessary delays and complications:



1) Full name:

2) Address:

3) Ticket Numbers:

4) Batch Numbers:

5) Serial Number:

6) Lucky Numbers: (as indicated in this winning Notification)

7) Telephone / Fax numbers:

8) Amount won:

9) Sex:

10) Age:

11) Occupation:

12) Your country of origin:

13) Your country of resident:



Our special thanks and gratitude to Bill Gates and his associates. We wish you the best of luck as you spend your good fortune in this season.



Note: You ha ve Seven days from the date of this publication to claim your prize or you may forfeit your winnings. In compliance with the sponsoring bodies', you are to make a remittance of a part of your winning fund, not lower than 10-percent, after receiving your allocation to a charity organization of your choice in your country.



Thank you for being part of our commemorat ive Easter 2008 Draws. &n bsp;



Mrs. Bryan McDonald

Microsoft Promotion.

 

[great lover]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/greyhound424ap.jpg

ha ha!

 

[HB1965]

It's actually quite good. I can see people falling for this one.

 

[The Heretic]

That is a fairly common scam. In general it works on people's desires to get something for nothing. You apply for the winnings and they tell you that you need to send in some amount for an application for your winnings, or to have something sent to you, or for "administration purposes", whatever - and you send it in and never hear from them again. Or better yet, they want your checking account number so they can have the money deposited in your account.

 

[HB1965]

That is a fairly common scam. In general it works on people's desires to get something for nothing. You apply for the winnings and they tell you that you need to send in some amount for an application for your winnings, or to have something sent to you, or for "administration purposes", whatever - and you send it in and never hear from them again. Or better yet, they want your checking account number so they can have the money deposited in your account.

Clever I think.

 

[Corruptible]

I won?!

Oh my gawd! I won!

Oh hell no, I'm not working another day in that crap job. And my family? They won't ever see a single dime. Oh no honey, I'm done with those money-grubbing fools. See if I ever give them a handout!

Oh yeah, time to buy my Ferrari and become a sugar daddy. I'll have twenty year old women begging to fuck me just for a slice of this cake!

 

[HB1965]

I won?!

Oh my gawd! I won!

Oh hell no, I'm not working another day in that crap job. And my family? They won't ever see a single dime. Oh no honey, I'm done with those money-grubbing fools. See if I ever give them a handout!

Oh yeah, time to buy my Ferrari and become a sugar daddy. I'll have twenty year old women begging to fuck me just for a slice of this cake!

LOL you should take her to Monte Carlo. That would be really sweet

 

[shoulderblade]

That is a fairly common scam. In general it works on people's desires to get something for nothing. You apply for the winnings and they tell you that you need to send in some amount for an application for your winnings, or to have something sent to you, or for "administration purposes", whatever - and you send it in and never hear from them again. Or better yet, they want your checking account number so they can have the money deposited in your account.

So the actual scam is secondary. There is no mechanism in the original post where $ are delivered.

A bit of name dropping too.

 

[RawHumor]

South Africa?

I would think that bit of info would be a bit of a tip-off all by itself.

 

[HB1965]

South Africa?

I would think that bit of info would be a bit of a tip-off all by itself.

Exactly

 

[redpaint]

same ol'scam just cleaned it up a bit.

 

[The Heretic]

So the actual scam is secondary. There is no mechanism in the original post where $ are delivered.

A bit of name dropping too.

Yeah, that is nice for the scammers - they scammed person never expects any money so probably never reports it.

After every tragedy you see all kinds of websites popup to gather charity monies - but on investigation, most of these are scams.

 

[The Heretic]

Clever I think.

The clever ones are where they send you an email saying your financial account has been compromised, or they want to verify a recent transaction, or they want to offer you a rebate, or give you a car loan, or something like that. The email has all the embedded images, etc. of the institution, right down to the security warnings. Then they put up a fake website that looks just like the real one. I almost fell for that once, but then it occurred to me that I had not used that particular email address with that bank.

The problem is that the banks send out emails just like these. They don't really care that it makes it easier for the scammers.

 

[HB1965]

The clever ones are where they send you an email saying your financial account has been compromised, or they want to verify a recent transaction, or they want to offer you a rebate, or give you a car loan, or something like that. The email has all the embedded images, etc. of the institution, right down to the security warnings. Then they put up a fake website that looks just like the real one. I almost fell for that once, but then it occurred to me that I had not used that particular email address with that bank.

The problem is that the banks send out emails just like these. They don't really care that it makes it easier for the scammers.

I don't get a lot of email scams. This is the first one in a long time. I may have seen those and not known, all though I heard about the one about the bank issues.

 

[shoulderblade]

The problem is that the banks send out emails just like these. They don't really care that it makes it easier for the scammers.

Varies from bank to bank I think. I have never had an e-mail of any sort from mine.

Makes you think about what kind of institution you are supporting.

 

[infinity706]

Couldn't they have at least picked a better name for their lottery? If you're going to scam people, you should at least not make it stupidly obvious.

 

[Left_Nut]

I found this in my junk mail. A very good scam. I don't recall signing up for this.



MOTTO: FIGHTING POVERTY ROUND THE WORLD!!!



Microsoft-AOL Lottery Award Promotions

20 Craven Park, Harlesden London

NW10 United Kingdom

Ref: BTD/968/0

Batch: 40997

Congratulations!



Dear Winner,



The prestigious Microsoft and AOL Lottery has set out and successfully organized a Sweepstakes marking the Easter 2008 celebrations. We rolled out over US$41, 849,564 for the Easter 2008 celebrations Draws. Participants for the draws were randomly selected and drawn from a wide range of web hosts which we enjoy their patronage.



The selection was made through a c computer draw system attaching personalized- mail addresses to ticket numbers. If you ignore this, you will regret it later. Microsoft and AOL Lottery are now the largest Internet companies and in an effort to make sure that Internet Explorer remains the most widely used program; Microsoft and AOL Lottery are running an e-mail beta.



Your email add ress as indicated was drawn and attached to ticket number 008795727498 with serial numbers BTD/90 80648302/08 and drew the lucky numbers; 12 -18-25-28-43-49 bonus (10) which subsequently won you US$950,000.00 (Nine Hundred and Fifty Thousand United States Dollars) as one of the 10 jackpot winners in th is draw. You have therefore won the entire winning sum of US$950 ,000.0 0 ( Nine Hundred and Fifty Thousand United States Dollars) the draws registered as Draw number one was conducted in Brockley, London United Kingdom on the 1st of April, 2008. These Draws are commemorative and as such special. &nb sp;



Please be informed by this winning notification, to file your claims. You are to make contact with your designated agent who shall by duty guide you through the process to facilitate the release of your prize. To file for your claim Plea se Contact your delivery agency in the contact information below:



Delivery agency conta ct information:

Name of claim agency firm: Microsoft Award Client Services

60 Great Ormond Street,

Johannesburg,

South Africa.

Tel: +27-78-477-8057

Emailatrickvusi_southafrica1@hotmail.com

Email: micropayagent@webmail.co.za

Contact Person: Dr. Patrick Vusi.



You are advised to contact your fiduciary agent with the following details to avoid unnecessary delays and complications:



1) Full name:

2) Address:

3) Ticket Numbers:

4) Batch Numbers:

5) Serial Number:

6) Lucky Numbers: (as indicated in this winning Notification)

7) Telephone / Fax numbers:

8) Amount won:

9) Sex:

10) Age:

11) Occupation:

12) Your country of origin:

13) Your country of resident:



Our special thanks and gratitude to Bill Gates and his associates. We wish you the best of luck as you spend your good fortune in this season.



Note: You ha ve Seven days from the date of this publication to claim your prize or you may forfeit your winnings. In compliance with the sponsoring bodies', you are to make a remittance of a part of your winning fund, not lower than 10-percent, after receiving your allocation to a charity organization of your choice in your country.



Thank you for being part of our commemorat ive Easter 2008 Draws. &n bsp;



Mrs. Bryan McDonald

Microsoft Promotion.

I get junk like that everyday.
Usually it is my rich uncle in africa but yet they ask me for my name etc.

 

[The Heretic]

Varies from bank to bank I think. I have never had an e-mail of any sort from mine.

Makes you think about what kind of institution you are supporting.

Bank of America, Washington Mutual, Citibank, Schwab, etc. - they all send out emails. The key is to tell them not to (IIRC, they have options on their websites) - which I am just to lazy to do. The thing is that they shouldn't regardless.

 

[Sean]

It's actually quite good. I can see people falling for this one.

Apart from the fact that the language is awful.

 

[Wat_Tyler]

Damn, that's kinda sporty.


I have to settle for the Russian chicks/guys who write to my (deactivated) dating website account asking for planefare so they can become the next Mrs Tyler.

 

[HB1965]

Apart from the fact that the language is awful.

it is, but then people might think that's how people in South Africa