I received the following message in my email and want to know if it is legitimate?

Question

"Microsoft Online Promotion"
To: [e-mail]
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS !!! YOU HAVE WON
Date: Fri, 25 May 2007 19:04:57 -0400
Microsoft/Yahoo/Msn Lottery Incoperation Baley House, Har Road Sutton, Greater London SM1 4te United Kingdom.
This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of Five
hundred thousand, Great Britain Pound Sterlings(£500,000.00) for the
month of May 2007 Lottery promotion which is organized by YAHOO/MSN
LOTTERY INC & WINDOWS LIVE.YAHOO/MSN & MICROSOFT WINDOWS, collects all
the email addresses of the people that are active online, among the
millions that subscribed to Yahoo and Hotmail we only select five
people every Month as our winners
You are to contact the events manager on when Winners, Shall be
paid in accordance with his/her Settlement Centre.Yahoo/Msn Lottery .
These are your identification numbers:
Batch#:YM 09102XN Ref#:YM35447XN Winning#:YM09788
To file for your claim, you are required to fill the form below and
send it to the contact manager email address below.
1. Full name_____________________
2. Contact Address_____________________
3. Age_____________________
4. Telephone Number_____________________
5. Marital Status_____________________
6. Sex_____________________
7. Next Of Kin_____________________
8. Zip Code_____________________
9. Occupation_____________________
10. Company_____________________
11.State:_____________________
12.Country_____________________
13.Nationality_____________________
14. Your Reference and Batch number at the top of this mail
15.Payment method options: Check delivery or bank transfer
Name:Mr.Paul Davids
E-mail:[e-mail] Tel:[phone]
Thank you and Accept my hearty congratulations once again!
Yours faithfully, Mrs.Gloria Bent(Yahoo/Msn Lottery Games/Lottery Coordinator).

Answer 1

No this is not legitimate. It is a scam and the people asking for your personal information will use that information that you give them to open up accounts and credit cards in your name. Delete the emali and don't answer it. These people are scammers and con artists.

Answer 2

Hello! I can tell you definitely that it is a scam. I have received three like it in the past couple weeks and others similar over the course of a few months. Following you will find proof without a reasonable doubt that it is a scam. Notice the identification numbers in the middle of the emails. The Batch#, Ref# and Winning# are exactly the same in every email they send. Call me crazy, but IF it were an actual 'lottery' they would not use the same numbers every time, otherwise everyone would be a 'winner'. I hope this helps! Good Luck! FYI Corporate Headquarters for both companies in question:

Microsoft Corporation
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052-6399
Tel:(800) MICROSOFT (642-7676)

Yahoo! Inc.
701 First Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94089
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Answer 3

No, this is not legitimate. Microsoft does not run lotteries and, to the best of my knowledge, they don't cooperate with Yahoo! (a completely separate company) on promotions! Aside from misspellings in the email, which Microsoft would not allow to happen, another telltale sign to me is the fact that the individuals mentioned are listed as Mr. and Mrs., something I would not expect someone in the West to do these days. They are asking for far more information about you than they would need for a sweepstakes or lottery. To me, this signals a probable Nigerian scam (my apologies to all the good Nigerians out there - I know that there are many, but unfortunately some citizens of your country have become notorious for perpetrating such hoaxes on a global basis!).

Answer 4

There are some easy ways to identify this as a scam. A real notification would not be filled with obvious errors. "Incoperation" what is that? Incorporation? In cooperation? Britain, if it still used its old currency instead of the euro, would be handing out pounds sterling not pound sterlings. On and on it goes. This is 100% scam. Don't waste your time and don't go looking for trouble. Hit "delete".

Answer 5

I have recieved those same emails a few times myself...3-4 over the course of a month. I do not believe they are legitimate emails.

If you really want to find out for sure, contact yahoo, but NOT using the email or telephone address listed within the email. if it is legitamte, yahoo, should be able to conect you with the correct office.

Answer 6

Makes me wonder how much information I would need to take over your identity. Most of the stuff they are asking for, I guess.
Probably not real, but check with the real Yahoo/MSN Lottery, if there is one.

Answer 7

it seems very legitatmate to me but than again im very trusting (which isnt always the best thing) so i would call that telephone number and see what happens next.

Answer 8

I delete all of the messages I get like that. I mark them SPAM or Junk.

Answer 9

no! it is not legemit .Omg u r so lucky!Good going!
nice job,u r a lucky person!