is microsoft europe having a lottery

[dakota]

I recieved a phone call from london and a email saying i my email address was
selected from a lottery that i have won 2.1 million dollars.I researched the
phone number and it is from london. What do you think and what should i do

[Prof Lombardo]

From experience of friends, this is likely a scam. Check who the company is,
where they are etc. Don't be fooled by websites, these are easily
constructed and logos are stolen to make the page look legitimate. If you're
not in the UK then let me know, I'll happily investigate this on your
behalf...though I should point out I DO NOT work for Microsoft.

A friend recently recieved a mail telling her the same thing. The website
did have stolen official lottery and a well known drink (clue: Red Can and
non alcoholic) logos all over it to make it seem legitimate. It was a hoax
running from Nigeria with people involved in the UK. It was designed to get
bank details so they could "pay the money in". The police weren't too happy
and this has been passed to the local Computer crime division. The UK
national lottery and the drinks company weren't happy either as their
copyrighted trademarks had been illegally used and used to defraud.

Though, I could be wrong... but I would think if MS was holding a lottery in
Europe, it would be advertised. They aren't short of money and you will
probably remember the MASSIVE TV campaign when Win 95 was about to launch

Matt.

[jbrent136]

I have received emails from ebay, Paypal, my bank, credit cards i don't have,
all with the theme of there has been a corruption of my account and unless I
follow a link and provide all my goodies for them (ssn, address, mom's name,
etc.), they will be forced to deactivate my account. Right click the link
and select properties and see if it looks legit. Several other links on the
page may be authentic but this one will be different and not secure (https).
The best thing in this case is to close that window, open a new one, type in
the site and log in and if there is a problem, you will see it from them.
Most sites that require sensitive information state that they will never use
email to ask for it.
--
I am what I am and that''s what I am.