Four masked men held up a manufacturing facility in Scotland and got away with 100,000 CD-ROMs and 200,000 certificates of authority (4x4" papers with holographic images, watermarks, special printing, bar graphs and serialized numbers) worth millions of dollars. A Microsoft executive says: "We are doing everything in our power to ensure that counterfeit product resulting from this robbery doesn't reach consumers in the United States or elsewhere and that, if it does, the trail is tracked straight to the source."

//and the boys @ Microsoft have this to say:

The serial codes of the stolen COAs are between 259772000 -74999 & 263171000 - 73999. Using counterfeit or illegal products may leave you open to computer viruses and prosecution. Over 1/3 of software in use in the UK is illegal in some form. If you are in any doubt as to the legality of the software you have bought you can ring the anti-piracy hotline on 0345 002000 xtn 999.

http://www.microsoft.com/uk/piracy

MICROSOFT IS PREPARED TO OFFER A SUBSTANTIAL REWARD FOR INFORMATION THAT LEADS TO THE SUCESSFUL LEGAL CONCLUSION OF THIS MATTER: 0345 002000 xtn999.

((c) Wall Street Journal 19 Nov 97 & Ninfomania )