I am not sure if I should laugh or cry after reading this very poor email scam. They certainly are not shy at attempting to tie themselves to big friendly brand names like Microsoft and Yahoo. But even the most cursory glance at the actual scam email should show you it’s all fake and meant to rip you off.
First off, there is no Yahoo and Microsoft Internet email prize. They don’t even work together, let alone give out money together to random people over the Internet. Secondly, this email just arrived today, yet it says the prize is being awarded for the first quarter of 2008. It’s now the fourth quarter of 2008.
Now it’s the next part that should be the biggest giveaway to the scam, and it also shows just how dumb these scammers are. They just finished telling you that you won money on behalf of Microsoft and Yahoo, yet they want you to respond to a Gmail account. Gmail – yes Google’s Gmail. Now why would a person responsible for working on behalf of Yahoo and Microsoft be using Gmail? Because it’s a scam!
YAHOO AWARDS CENTER
124 Stockport Road, Longsight,
Manchester M60 2DB-United Kingdom.
This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of One Million Great Britian pounds ( GBP1,000, 000.00) for the first quarter 2008 prize promotion which is organised by YAHOO AWARDS &WINDOWS LIVE.
YAHOO collects all the email addresses of the people that are active online, among the millions that subscribed to Yahoo and Hotmail and few from other email providers. Six people are selected monthly to benefit from this promotion and you are of the Select Winners.
Winners shall be paid in accordance with their Settlement Centers.
Yahoo Prize Award must be claimed not later that 30days from date of Draw Notification. Any prize not claimed within this period will beforfeited and returned to it source as unclaimed. Stateed below are your identification numbers.
BATCH NUMBER: MFI/06/APA-43658 REFERENCE NUMBER: 2007234522 PIN: 1207
You are requested to contact our co-ordinator in Manchester and send your winning identification numbers to him.
You are advise only to contact the Co-ordinator’s on the email below
Email: awardcenterr@gmail.com
Name: Rev Paul jeddy
You are advised to send the following information to our co-ordinator to facilitate the release of your fund to youFull name, country, contact address, telephone number, fax number,marital status, occupation, sex, date of birth.
Your in Service
Mrs Mary Harmon