Spam mails; don't you just hate them? My inbox seems to fill up with all kinds of crap every day.

Normally I just mark the offending mailings as junk and think no more about them, but one of this morning's batch really caught my eye and I thought I'd share it with you.

The sender's address was Microsoft Award [mass_lottery_2007@yahoo.co.uk], which is a bit of a giveaway to start with.

Microsoft Award

Congratulations! congratulations! congratulations!

ms_masthead_8x6a_ltr
Microsoft Award Team
20 Craven Park , Harlesden
London NW10, United Kingdom .
Ref: BTD/968/06
Batch: 409978E

Dear Lucky winner,

The prestigious Microsoft has set out, and successfully organized a Sweepstakes marking in the being of every year anniversary we rolled out over 900,000.000.00 (Nine Hundred Million Great Britain Pounds) for our Anniversary Draws. Participants for the draws were randomly selected and drawn from a wide range of web hosts which we enjoy their patronage.

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 £1,000,000.00 (One Million Great Britain Pounds) as one of the jackpot winners in this draw. You have therefore won the entire winning sum of £1,000,000.00 (One Million Great Britain Pounds).

This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program. Please you are advised to complete The form and send it immediately to our Promotion manager through Email or fax for prompt collection of your prize.

To file for your claim, please contact our fiduciary agent:
Overseas Claims Unit United Kingdom

FIDUCIARY AGENT
Microsoft Promotion Award Team
Head Winning Claims Dept.
Name: Mr.stephen lee
Tel: +44 -703-182-0350
Fax: +44-870-478-4792
Email:microsoft_lottery_info@yahoo.co.uk

VERIFICATION AND FUNDS RELEASE FORM

1. FULL NAME: _______________
2. ADDRESS: __________________
3. SEX: ______________________
4. AGE: ______________________
5. MARITAL STATUS: ___________
6. OCCUPATION: _______________
7. 7.INDICATE PREFERRED MODE OF PRIZE COLLECTION:
( A ) COURIER DELIVERY
( B ) PICK UP
( C ) BANK TRANSFER: ____________________
8. E-MAIL ADDRESS: ___________
9. PHONE/FAX NUMBERS: ________
10. EMAIL TICKET NUMBER: _____
11. SERIAL NUMBER: ___________
12. LUCKY NUMBERS: ___________
13. AMOUNT WON: ______________
14. STATE: ___________________
15. COUNTRY: _________________
16. NEXT OF KIN: ____________

Accept my heartily congratulations once again!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Jennifer Cole.
(Online Co-coordinator)
Head Customercare Service
Microsoft Promotion Team.

Just how desperate is that? Frankly if anyone is dumb enough to fall for a scam as badly constructed as this one, they deserve all they get. Still it gave me a morning chuckle; some crooks obviously need all the help they can get... :))