It never ends. Despite how much publicity is given to e-mail cons there are still enough suckers out there to make it worth the while of identify thieves and others who prey on the weak and stupid with e-mails like the one that just landed in my inbox. Apparently they don’t have the fear of the Big Spender that they should.

Didn’t they see my post on the Top Scams of 2009, or the whole “Too Good to be True” category? I’m offended.

So as always, I put this out as a warning to all and with the hope that this e-mail address soon becomes unusable by the con artist.

FROM MICROSOFT MEGA JACKPOT 2009
REF NO: MSW/56B-672GH/L
BATCH: 4583JL/WIN
MICROSOFT EMAIL LOTTERY AWARD PROMOTION: UNITED KINGDOM Finally today,announce the winners of the MICROSOFT MEGA JACKPOT LOTTO WINNINGS PROGRAMS held early this month 2009. Your company or your personal e-mail address,attached to winning number 23-76-06-54-42-100, with serial number 647489, consequently won in the Tenth lottery category.
You have been approved for lump sums pay out of ?850,000.00 (Eight hundred and fifty thousand pounds starlings) in cash Credited to file REF NO: MSW/56B-672GH/L and winning number 23-76-06-54-42-100.Selection process was carried out through random selection in our computerized email selection machine (TOPAZ) from a database of over 1,000,000 email addresses drawn from all the continents of the world.
The online draws was conducted by a random selection of email addresses from an exclusive list of 29,031 E-mail addresses of individuals and corporate bodies picked by an advanced automated random computer search from the internet. No ticket was sold but all email addresses were assigned to different ticket numbers for representation
and privacy. This is to encourage our prominent Microsoft Internet Explorer users all over the world, and for the Continues use of E-mail.
Your fund has been insured with your REF NO: MSW/56B-672GH/L and winning number 23-76-06-54-42-100. To claim your winning prize, You are to reply to this letter In order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications, please remember to quote your reference and winning numbers in all correspondences with your claims officer. You are to
keep all lotto information away from the general public especially your ticket number and ballot number.(This is important as a case of double claims will not be entertained)
PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU ARE TO SEND THE BELOW INFORMATION REQUIRED TO CLAIM YOUR WINNING PRIZE:

1. Full Name:
2. Address:
3. Nationality:
4. Age/Date of Birth:
5. Occupation:
6. Your Office; Telephone and fax. Phone:
7. Mobile Telephone
8. State of Origin: Country:
Upon the receipt of this mail kindly send the required information and call me immediately for more directives + 44 70457 35768
Regards,
Dr. Andrew Georgetown
Online Co-coordinator
Phone+44702 404 5686

As you may have deduced, the goal of this message is to get you to divulge personal information which can be used in a variety of nefarious ways. If you were to contact the sender, they may ask you for a “small” fee to facilitate the disbursement of your winnings. Future messages may contain attachments with Trojan horses or spyware.

What really ticks me off is that this a-hole is using the name of my Alma Mater, Georgetown. Mere coincidence, but still.

So you know the drill; adventurous readers feel free to reverse-spam the hell out of this guy (from throwaway e-mail accounts only) and be ever vigilant against these assclowns. And if you’re not sure whether or not a lottery-themed e-mail is on the up-and-up (it probably isn’t) check out this information from FraudAid.

One Response to “Lottery Award Scam Hits My Inbox”