419 scam: "Micro Soft Prize Award"<m_softdocumentation@yahoo.co.uk> Micro Soft Prize Award

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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:
- "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)
- "united state of america" (this email uses bad English)
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.
- +447924541226
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.
- m_soft@aol.com (AOL; can be used from anywhere worldwide)

Fraud email example:

From: "Micro Soft Prize Award" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <m_soft@aol.com>
Date: Fri, 21 Oct 2011 16:17:37 +0200
Subject: Micro Soft Prize Award

MICROSOFT E-MAIL SELECT AWARD HELD IN UNITED STATE OF AMERICA
ON MONDAY, 18TH OCTOBER, 2011

CONGRATULATIONS!

Your active email address have just won you the sum of £3,00,000.00 GBP ( THREE MILLION GREAT BRITISH POUNDS STERLING) in our annual international Microsoft Promotion Award held in United State of America on Monday, 18th October, 2011.

Award winners emerge through random selection of thousands of active email subscribers online. Five out of thousands of emails benefit from this promotion.

Payment of Prize and Claim

Winners are to be paid in accordance with his/her Settlement Center. This Prize Award must be claimed in not less than 15 days from date of draw and notification, after which unclaimed prizes will be cancelled.

YOU ARE A WINNER NO: 3

These are your identification numbers:

Batch Number: YPB/08/APA-43658
Reference Number: YPN560992011
Award File Security code: USA/+ QU34005

PLEASE CONTACT THE PROCESSING MANAGER WITH THE DETAILS BELOW.

Name: Mr. Tom Adams
Phone: +44 7924541226
E-mail: m_soft@aol.com

Kindly send the following information to him for the facilitation/release of your fund.

1. Full Name:
2. Country of Origin:
3. Country of Resident:
4. Telephone Number/Mobile number:
5. Fax Number:
6. Sex/Gender:
7. Age:
8. Marital Status:
9. Winning E-mail Address:
10. Occupation
11. Contact Address:
12. Copy of your International passport or Drivers license:

Once our agent acknowledges receipt of above required details, transfer would commence.

Congratulations!! Once Again.

Yours in service,

[Prof John Martins] [Mrs. Mary E. Chris]
[Microsoft Award Manager] [Microsoft Award Secretary]

NOTE
You are hereby advised not to disclose the content of this Prize Award until your money have been remitted to you to avoid disqualification or double claim by friends/family members.

[Signed By: Dr. A. W. George] {Mr. Joe Walter}
Overall Manager. (Processing Manager)

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam