MoMusings

Not!

Looks like the Boys [and Girls] from Lagos are learning from the malware authors and phishers and other assorted internet scum.

What do I mean? Well over the last few months I’ve noticed that the 419ers have started to depend more and more on using the names of large companies to try and add credence to their drivel; a case of authenticity by name dropping or impersonation. This is a bit of a change as they have tended to use impersonation in other ways before, such as pretending to be people like:

• Saddam Hussein
• Suha Arafat [widow of Yasser Arafat]
• Winnie Mandela [wife of Nelson Mandela]

They still use the more usual fake ‘officials’, such as Doctors, Government Officials, Bank Managers, Lawyers, Barristers, Accountants, Military Leaders, Royalty, Priests and other Church members, etc.

So, not only are they guilty of fraud, they have now added impersonation to their list of crimes. This also could damage the credibility of the company or individual who is unfortunate to have their name used in this way.

Here is a typical example:

MICROSOFT EMAIL LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL
FROM:INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION / PRIZE AWARD.
PROMOTING INTERNET USAGE OVER THE GLOBE
(MICROSOFT ENCOURAGE GLOBALIZATION)

FROM: THE LOTTERY COORDINATOR,
INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT
Microsoft B.V. Boeing Avenue 44 9459 PE Schiphol-Rijk.

RESULTS FOR CATEGORY “A” DRAWS
Congratulations to you as we bring to your notice,
the results of the First Category draws of MICROSOFT
LOTTERY INT. We are happy to inform you that you have
emerged a winner under the First Category, which is
part of our promotional draws. The draws are being officially announced
today 21st of February 2005. Participants were selected through a
computer ballot system drawn from 2,500,000 email addresses of
individuals and companies from Africa, America, Asia, Australia,
Europe, Middle East, and Oceania as part of our
International Promotions Program.

Your e-mail address, attached to ticket number 50941465206-529, with
serial number 5772-54 drew the lucky numbers 3-4-17-28-35-44 and
consequently won in the First Category.
You have therefore been awarded a lump sum pay out
of 1,000,000 (One Million Euros), which is the
winning payout for Category A winners. This is from the total prize
money from 2,000,000 shared among the 2 winners in this category
CONGRATULATIONS!
Your fund is now deposited with the paying Bank.
In your best interest to aviod mix up of numbers and
names of any kind, we request that you keep the
entire details of your award strictly from public
notice until the process of transferring your claims has
been completed, and your funds remitted to your
account.
This is part of our security protocol to avoid
double claiming or unscrupulous acts by
participants/nonparticipants of this program.
Please contact your claims agent immediately for due
processing and remittance of your prize money to a
designated account of your choice:
To file for your claim,please contact the fiduciary
agent.
***********************************************
Mr. Harvey Kurt,
Prudent Trust Agency
Email:prudenttrustt@netscape.net
1156 H T NL-6400 AA SITTARD
AMSTERDAM
THE NETHERLANDS,
Tel.:+31-611-447-805
***********************************************

You are advised to contact the agents by email
within a week of receiving this notice.
Failure to do so may warrant disqualification.
NOTE: For easy reference and identification, find
below your reference and Batch numbers. Remember to
quote these numbers in every one of your
correspondence with your claims agent.
REFERENCE NUMBER: LSLUK/2031/8161/04
BATCH NUMBER: 14/011/IPD
Congratulations once again from all our staff and
thank you for being part of our promotions program.

Sincerely Yours,
MRS.ELIZABETH MOUS.
THE LOTTERY COORDINATOR,
MICROSOFT INT.

N.B: Any breach of confidentiality on the part of
the winners will result to disqualification. Please do
not reply to this mail. Contact your fiduciary agent
immediately.

Notice the veiled threat at the foot of the e-mail, this is to ensure that the intended sucker….er I mean victim does not tell anyone, as they might be told by someone that this is nothing more than the scam it is.

The ‘Lottery’ variant of the 419 Advanced Fee Fraud has been around for about 18 months now and was a major shift in the 419ers method of enticement.

I have also seen other company names used, these include:

• Zenith
• Camelot [This company runs the UKs Official Lottery]
• William Hill [A large UK Betting (Gambling) Company]

If I received all the alleged winnings from all the copies of the Lottery scams I get each day, then I’d now be richer than Bill Gates
Not to mention all the 10-25 percent handling fees I’d have received for helping to move all the milliions of US Dollars in trapped cash from Nigeria, Iraq, South Africa, Ivory Coast, China, Russia, and the vast majority of the rest of the world too. By now I should own most of the planet!

Oh, while we are on the subject of Bill Gates, no he isn’t giving away his money, no matter what this hoax states.

So next time you receive an e-mail saying that you’ve won a lottery you don’t remember entering, be suspicious, be very suspicious……