Need info on Microsoft Lottery Inc &Windows Live giving away 1,000,000 pounds from Great Britian?

Question

I was told I was a winner of this money but had to pay express from England for the check. Is this legit?

Answer 1

NO it is a scam!  do not send money or give out your bank info.

Answer 2

It's a variant of the Nigerian "419" scam, also known as "Advance Fee Fraud".

The scammers send out thousands of "winning notifications", basically to any email address they can get hold of. Then, when you reply they tell you to send your personal details to a "claim agent". The claim agent will usually put you in touch with either a "lawyer", a "bank" or a "courier service". All of these are fake and part of the same scam gang. The fake lawyer will demand cash for representing to you for the lottery claim, the fake bank will demand cash for either a wire transfer fee or an account opening deposit. Finally the fake courier will demand cash for courier fees. The common element: They all demand cash upfront. Any money you send will be lost, as there's no lottery prize. Never send money to strangers using Western Union or MoneyGram, which is how almost all 419 scams operate.

It's actually illegal in Europe for lotteries to demand any kind of fee from a prize winner, so from that alone you know that it can't be real if they demand money.

Microsoft does not operate any kind of lottery, and neither does Yahoo, Toyota, Honda, Coca Cola, Nokia and many other well known brands used in similar fake lottery scams.

There aren't any legitmate "email lotteries" or "international lotteries". The only lottery you can win is if you bought a lottery ticket in the country / state where you live. Everything else is an online scam.

Answer 3

No, it is absolutely not legit.  It is a scam.  I often get emails about the same sort of thing.  Do not respond to this ad or email, and whatever you do, do not give them ANY of your personal information.

Answer 4

It's a scam. So is anything telling you that you have to respond of you'll loose your email or IM account, anything telling you that you have long lost relative that just died/someone random that has your name died so you'll get a lot of money or pretty much anything claiming to be from a lawyer (lawyers will see you in person, not email you).

A lot of these type of scams come from Nigeria (though I really don't know why), but they can come from anywhere there is a person wanting to get money in a less than honest way.