This is a typical “advance fee” scam email. Often these type of emails use well known companies as the supposed senders, in an attempt to build trust. In this case, the scammers have chosen Microsoft. Microsoft, however, do not run any type of lottery or “email selection balloting promotional programme “.
Other indicators that there is something suspicious about this email are that it arrived in my Inbox at 7.30 PM on a Saturday evening (unlikely the “Microsoft Award Team” in the UK would be in the office), the poor grammar and the fact it arrived in my Spam folder as the email had been rerouted through many countries to try and hide the senders identity.
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- reply-to mrbenoris@live.com
- subject Congratulation Your Email ID Won (£500,000.00 GBP)
Microsoft Award Team
10 Great Pulteney Road,
London,W1F9NB, United Kingdom.Ref: BTD/968/07
Batch: 409978E
Dear Lucky Winner,We the united kingdom Microsoft lottery board wishes to inform you officially that your email ID attached to the Ref: BTD/968/07 and Batch: 409978E number won you the amount of £500,000.00 GBP, in our email selection balloting promotional programme for the month of may 2008.
==============================================
CERTIFICATE OF PRIZE CLAIM(Receipt Official Notification Letter)
==============================================
1. Full Name:
2. Address:
3. Marital Status:
4. Occupation :
5. Age:
6. Sex:
7. Nationality:
8. Telephone Number:
==============================================
Please contact your claims officer with the above Reference & Batch to enable him process your winnings. Contact Agent Mr Ben Oris Via This email ID (mrbenoris@live.com )Call telephone number
for confirmation.(+44704-572-1259). Congratulations to you Once again from all our Staffs.Congratulations to you Once again from all our Staffs.
Chief Online Co-ordinator Ben Oris.
On behalf of United Kingdom Microsoft Lottery Board.Mr.Ben Oris
Tell:+44-704-572-1259
Microsoft Award Department
Email:mrbenoris@live.com
If you have received a similar email and wish to verify the authenticity, the actual contact information of Microsoft UK is as follows:
Microsoft
Microsoft Campus
Thames Valley Park
Reading
Berkshire
RG6 1WG
Telephone no. 0870 60 10 100
I received the same spam just minutes ago, in my gmail inbox. I know for sure that it’s a phishing email. But I am courious how it appears to be sent from info@microsoft.co.uk . Is it easy to make a fake sender?
Thanks!
Simon
Comment by Simon — May 4, 2008 @ 1:06 am
Hi Simon,
Sadly, it isn’t difficult at all. For a bit more information you may want to visit this site: http://www.windowsecurity.com/articles/Email-Spoofing.html
There are also a few online services that allow you to send emails to people by pretending they come from someone else. These sites (for example, http://prankmail.org/) state they are for fun, however they can easily be used by spammers.
Bill.
Comment by admin — May 4, 2008 @ 2:54 pm
i also received this email lol, I replayed saying that judging on his spelling i assume he is from South Africa. Its really upsetting imagine old ladies getting this thinking YES FIANLLY I HAVE WON!!!, my wife thought it was serious… really upsetting, theres a special spot in hell for this guy.
Comment by Scott — May 5, 2008 @ 3:31 am
Ok new plan, i sent a reply phishing him back lol, now im awaiting a photo of this guy with a sign, scottlindh.com and waring a top hat… i hope he sends the pic!!
Comment by Scott — May 5, 2008 @ 3:34 am
Just got this email. It’s pretty good imho. Like it doesn’t look too fake and msn messenger is running that 1000 dollars a day contest. A spam mail for that MIGHT have got me. For future spam mails I’d suggest having a time limit to claim the prize. This one was kind of open ended. Also, what do they use the information for that they collect from this anyways. I mean… if you wanted to telemarket some shit use a phone book and they’ve already found our emails so they could send us as much spam as they want. I’d say they’re better off spamming google adsence or affiliate links or something then asking people around the world to send them thousands of dollars because they won money. Sigh. But this is like the first spam mail I’ve recieved on my mail account and its been open for months. Geuss its time to check which forums have been selling my email.
Comment by Harrold — May 14, 2008 @ 3:38 am
@ Scott… did you get a response from your scambaiting? If you managed to get the requested pic, feel free to post a link in a comment.
Comment by admin — May 16, 2008 @ 6:40 pm
@ Harrold… If you received this particuliar email to an MSN email address, then I can understand how it would give it a certain amount of authenticity. As for me, this scam was sent to a Google account, which was just the first of many indicators that not all was right with it (my reasoning is for that being that, if Microsoft are giving money away, they are more likely to send it to people signed up to their services).
In the reference you make to the “1000 dollar a day” contest, I would assume that if someone wins it, they may well be sent an email but it would probably be addressed to the name of the account holder, rather than “Dear Lucky Winner”.
As for what they do with the collected information, should anyone reply… well, for one they have confirmed an active email address and the person replying has given up a genuine name / address combination. The next step for the scammer would, most likely, be to try and gain financial information under the pretence that they will pay the money to your bank account (after you have sent them their “release fee” of course!)
You may have noticed that spam / junk mail that is trying to sell something, is usually promoting meds or fake watches (is what I get anyway). Most affiliate programs (including Goole Adsense) have a zero tolerance policy on people spamming to create interest in sales / click through advertising. Therefore, it would be quite rare, imho, that anyone would send this type of spam for fear of account closure (I guess medication / watch sellers are less discerning).
Anyway, I am glad you found this posting and if it confirmed for you that the email you received is a scam then all good 🙂
BTW. Why your email got on to a scammers list may not be that it was sold. Obviously if a forum were to publish peoples addresses then its easy pickings for a bot / crawler to find it eventually. However, it is possible to generate millions of random names and attach @yahoo, @gmail etc on the end and blast the ‘net hoping something finds a target.
Comment by admin — May 16, 2008 @ 7:30 pm