Lottery scams…

It’s good to see Colin writing about a lottery scam that reached his inbox. They are more common than folks think, it seems that the scammers think we’re more gullible at this time of year. Xmas is the worse time of year to play the UK lottery – more folks than normal buy a ticket so even with the huge odds against you, if you did win something, it’s likely that you’ll have to share it with more people πŸ™ However, in for a penny, in for a pound: if you don’t take part, you can’t win. I’d settle for a tidy Β£50,000, thanks very much – tip jar is at the bottom of this post!

I’m waiting for Microsoft to formally announce the fact that they are in the lottery business, as the e-mail below seems to suggest πŸ™‚

[Update: 14/01/2007: More information can be found here.]

Some of the “scam clues” have been marked in bold.

FROM THE DESK OF THE MICROSOFT
COORDINATOR {MICROSOFT GLOBAL E-MAIL LOTTERY}
INTERNATIONAL PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT
AMSTERDAM THE NETHERLANDS.
FILE REF:HL/5564/06/07/MICS
BATCH: MC11/834/5PDH /EU

OFFICIAL WINNING NOTIFICATION:

DEAR WINNER:

It is obvious that this notification will come to you as a suprise 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 on the 9th of Dec.2006,in Amsterdam The Netherlands.

Wherein your electrononic email address emerged as one of the online
winning emails in the 1st category and therefore attracted a cash award of 1,000,000.00Euros(One Million Euros only).

Our winners are arranged into four categories with different winning prizes accordingly in each category.They are arranged in this format below:

CATEGORY NO.OF WINNERS WINNING PRIZES
1st. 2 1,000,000:00euros each
2nd. 8 800,000:00euros each
3rd. 13 470,000:00euros each
4th. 27 170,000:00euros 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: NL 56/7765
(2) Email ticket numbers: NL553/26/96
(3) Batch numbers: MC11/834/5PDH /EU
(4) The file reference numbers: HL/5564/40/07/MICS
{5} Serial Numbers:McST/006/NL4657

For verification purpose be sure to include:
(1) Your mailing address.
(2) Your Tel/Fax numbers.
(3) Your Nationality/Country.
{4}Your Full Names

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.

CONTACT:
*******************************************************************
FOREIGN TRANSFER MANAGER
NAME MR.PATRICK DONKOR.
MICROSOFT SECURITY DEPARTMENT(NL).
TEL:+31-204-000-498.
TEL:+31-649-304-875.
FAX:+31-847-560-854.
E-mail: claimbglot@aim.com
********************************************************************

The Microsoft Internet E-mail lottery Awards is sponsored by our
CEO/Chairman, Bill Gates:http://www.templetons.com/brad/billmap.gif 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.

Once again on behalf of all our staff,

CONGRATULATIONS!

Yours faithfully,

Rosemary Van Ken (Mrs)
MICROSOFT E-MAIL LOTTERY PROMOTION COORDINATOR.

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