419 scam: "Microsoft Promotion Award" <info@micosoft.co.uk> REQUIRE DETAILS FOR CLAIM

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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:

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 phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "million pounds" (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!

Fraud email example:

From: "Microsoft Promotion Award" <info@micosoft.co.uk>
Reply-To: mrfred_cole@yahoo.com.cn
Date: Sun, 2 May 2010 22:43:40 +0800
Subject: REQUIRE DETAILS FOR CLAIM

MICROSOFT NATIONAL LOTTERY HEADQUARTERS:
10 Great Pulteney Road,
London,W1F9NB, UNITED KINGDOM.
(Customer Services).

(1). Ticket Number: 008795727498,
(2). Lucky Number: 14-21-25-39-40-47(20),
(3). Ref: BTD/968/07,Batch: 409978E,
(4). Your e-mail has won (£1,000 000 GBP).

The prestigious Microsoft company successfully organized a promotion over the
world, Winners were randomly selected from a widerange of web hosts. And your
email was luckily drawn by a computer balloting system as one of our
winner in our
experimental lottery bonanza from the prestigous MICROSOFT ONLINE PROMOTION
that subsequently won you
£1,000 000 (One Million Pounds Sterling). The DRAW was held in London (United
Kingdom). The claims agent assigned for the release of your winning prize is

(Mr.FRED COLE)
-----------------------------
REQUIRE DETAILS FOR CLAIM
-----------------------------
1.Full Name:
2.Full Address:
3.Marital Status
4.Occupation:
5.Age:
6.Sex:
7.Nationality:
8.Country Of Residence:
9.Telephone Number:

The beneficiary of this e-mail address should contact the Microsoft claims
agent with
the require details for immediate claim of his/her prize.

Mr. FRED
Claims Agent Officer
E-mail: mrfred.cole@live.com
z

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam