Protect Yourself and Report the Latest Frauds, Scams, Spams, Fakes, Identify Theft Hacks and Hoaxes
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Have you received an email from "MRS ELINA POWELLS" at "MICROSOFT MEGA JACKPOT LOTTERY PROMOTIONS" saying you won their promotion or lottery promo and to contact "Mike Woods" to collect your winnings? It is a scam. And don't get too excited if the names are different; the scammers make many versions of this scam!
It is actually a very simple scam. They claim you won a promotion, which is giving away millions of dollars based on a randomly selected email address. The scam is obvious: it's simply preposterous to think that any company would randomly give away money to encourage you to buy their product. That would be self-defeating.
Although the most important clue is that no legitimate lottery, and almost no legitimate sweepstakes or promotions will email a winner, there are many other signs that this is a fraud. We have highlighted some of these in the email below, not the least of which are:
Email address ballot: There is no such thing as a "computer ballot system" or "computer email draw". No one, not even Microsoft has a database of email addresses of the type or magnitude they suggest.
Terrible spelling, punctuation, syntax and grammar - Scammers apparently don't know how to use spell checkers. We assume they dropped out of school before that class. They use almost excessive and random CapItaLiZAtion. They often can't even spell "February" or know that "22th" ought to be "22nd". These scammers usually write at the 3rd grade level. Being non-native English speakers, they also often get first names and surnames (last names reversed), so you will frequently see names like "Mr. SMITH JAMES.", instead of "Mr. James Smith", along with the peculiar usage of periods (full stops) and spaces or the lack thereof.
Using free email account: The scammer is writing to you from a FREE email account (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.). Don't you think a real organization would use its own email, its own domain and website? Wouldn't they want to promote that?
What are they promoting? No one promotes "world peace" or "use of the internet" by handing out millions to random strangers. And if they are promoting a product, then this must be the world's worst promotion, because no one has heard of it, outside of the email you just received.
Pay a fee to collect the prize: Nope, it is illegal for free sweepstakes and promotions to charge you ANYTHING! Of course, in a scam, that is the whole point: to get you to send money to the scammer.
It is a typical scam promotion sweepstakes winning notification. Also see these pages:
Subject: MICROSOFT MEGA JACKPOT LOTTERY PROMOTIONS, EMAIL AWARD PROMO:UNITED KINGDOM
From: Elina Powells [jackpot@microsoft.com]
MICROSOFT MEGA JACKPOT LOTTERY PROMOTIONS, EMAIL AWARD PROMO: UNITED KINGDOM
Finally today, we announce the winners of the MICROSOFT MEGA JACKPOT LOTTO WINNINGS PROGRAMS held on ,16th of March 2007. Your company or your personal e-mail address, attached to winning, with serial number 647489,consequently won in the Tenth lottery category.
You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of 500,000,00(Five Hundred Thousand Britain Pounds Sterlings) in cash Credited to file REFNO:MSW-L/200-26937,BATCH NO:2005MJL-01 and winning number (23) (76) (06)(54) (42) (100) this is from a total prize money of 27,500,000.00 GBP, shared among the Twenty five (25)international winners in this category.
All participants were selected through our Microsoft computer ballot system drawn form 42,000 Names, 6,000 names from each continent, as part of International \"E-MAIL\" Promotions Program, for our prominent MS-WORD user all over the world, and for the Continuous use of Email.
Your fund (certified Cashiers cheque) has been insured with your REFNO:MSW-L/200-26937 and winning number (23) (76) (06) (54) (42) (100). To claim your winning prize, you must first contact the claims department by email for Processing and remittance of your prize money to you. Our Claims Processor will immediately commence the process to facilitate the release of your funds as soon as you contact him.
For security reasons, you are advised to keep your winning information confidential till your claim is processed and your money remitted to you in whatever manner you deem fit to claim your prize. This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program. Please be warned.
The claims processor is:
Name: Mike Woods
Email: mikewoods_207@walla.com
Tel: +447045712612Do email the above email addresses, at once. In order to avoid
unnecessary delays and complications, please remember to quote your reference and winning numbers in all correspondences with your claims officer.PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU ARE TO SEND THE BELOW INFORMATIONS REQUIRED TO
CLAIM YOUR WINNING PRIZE:1. Full Name: ......................................
2. Address:.........................................
3.Nationality: ......................................
4.Age: ...................................................
5. Occupation: .....................................
6.Phone:............... Fax:........................
7. Country:............................................
8 sex......................................................
CONGRATULATIONS!!! ONCE AGAIN FROM THE MEMBERS OF STAFF OF MICROSOFT
MEGA
JACKPOT LOTTERY PROMOTIONS.
YOUR'S SINCERELYMRS ELINA POWELLS.
Click here for the huge list of the names of the currently identified lottery scams companies
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