"Phishing" and Internet Scamming

My junk email filters get quite a bit of crap on their own. I have had email addresses with few letters from the early mid 1990's so I am on so many junkmail spam lists. I still have to delete a hundred or more emails from jackasses that probably sent out their evil in the millions hoping for victims that might represent one one hundredth of a percent of the spam they send out.

I get ten to twenty emails a day allegedly from somewhere in Africa wanting me to help them cash their check for a percentage of the millions that it is made out for.

I think the authorities do to little to combat this. Authorities all over the world are dropping the ball on identity theft and "phishing" scams.

I got this in my email today:

Microsoft Award Team
20 Craven Park, Harlesden London NW10 United Kingdom
Ref: BTD/968/05
Batch: 409978E

Dear Winner,

CONGRATULATION! CONGRATULATION!! CONGRATULATION!!!

The prestigious Micrsoft and aol has set out and sucessfully organised a Sweepstakes marking the year 2007 anniversary we rolled out over US$ 4,419,864 for our end of year Anniversary Draws. Participants for the draws were randomly selected and drawn from a wide range of web hosts which we enjoy their patronage.

The selection was made through a computer draw system attaching personalised email addresses to ticket numbers. If you ignore this, you will regret it later. Microsoft and AOL are now the largest Internet companies and in an effort to make sure that Internet Explorer remains the most widely used program, Microsoft and AOL are running an e-mail beta test.

Your email address as indicated was drawn and attached to ticket number 008795727498 with serial numbers BTD/9080648302/06 and drew the lucky numbers 14-21-25-39-40-47(20) which subsequently won you £1,350,000.00 (One MillionThree Hundred and Fifty Thousand Great Britain Pounds) as one of the 5 jackpot winners in this draw. You have therefore won the entire winning sum of £1,350,000.00 (One MillionThree Hundred and Fifty Thousand Great Britain Pounds) The draws registered as Draw number one was conducted in Brockley, London United Kingdom on the 20th of January,2007. These Draws are commemorative and as such special.

Please be informed by this winning notification,to file your claims,you are to make contact with your designated agent who shall by duty guide you through the process to facilitate the release of your prize.To file for your claim Please Contact your delivery agency in the contact information below:

DELIVERY AGENCY CONTACT INFORMATION:

NAME OF COURIER FIRM: FRONTIERS DELIVERY SERVICES
OFFICE ADDRESS: 60 Great Ormond Street London,WC1N 3HR United- Kingdom.
Email: deliveryaward1@katamail.com
Tele:+4470-31-97-02-83
Tele:+44-70-31-89-31-15
Fax:+44-87-04-71-54-51
Contact Person: Call Mr John Gee.

You are advised to contact your fiduciary agent with the following details to avoid unnecessary delays and complications:

VERIFICATIONS FORM

FULL NAMES................................

CONTACT ADDRESS.....................

TEL/FAX NUMBERS.....................

AGE.......................................

SEX......................................

OCCUPATION......................

POST CODE..................................

COUNTRY /CITY /STATE.................

AMOUNT WON...............

WINNING EMAIL..............

BATCH NUMBER.............

TICKET NUMBERS..........

SERIAL NUMBERS..........

LUCKY NUMBERS..................

NUMBERS.........................

Our special thanks and gratitude to Bill Gates and his associates.We wish you the best of luck as you spend your good fortune in this season.

Note: You have One weeks from the date of this publication to claim your prize or you may forefeit your winnings.In compliance with the sponsoring bodies',you are to make a remittance of a part of your won fund,not lower than 10-percent, after receiving your allocation to a charity organisation.

Thank you for being part of our commemorative end of year Anniversary Draws.

DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL BECAUSE YOU MIGHT NOT BE ATTENDED TO, KINDLY CONTACT YOUR FIDUCIARY AGENT DIRECTLY FOR FURTHER DIRECTIONS

Mrs. Rosse N
Microsoft Promotion Team
Vice President