Have you received an email from "Mr ANTHONY CAMPBELL" at "Coca Cola" saying you won
their promotion or lottery promo and to contact "Mr.Vendrich Anderson" to collect your winnings?
And this is from "Coca-Cola in conjunction with Ipod Worldwide
Promotion"? What has Coke got to do with Ipods, which are a product, not a
company (Apple makes them). And if it is a promotion, why haven't you or ANYONE
you know heard of it? Not much of a promotion, is it? It is a scam. And don't get too excited if the names are different; the scammers
make many versions of this scam!
It is actually a very simple scam. They claim you won a
promotion, which is giving away millions of dollars based on a randomly selected
email address. The scam is obvious: it's simply preposterous to think that
any company would randomly give away money to encourage you to buy their product. That would be self-defeating.
Although the most important clue is that no legitimate lottery,
and almost no legitimate sweepstakes or promotions will email a winner, there are many other signs that this is a fraud.
Have you ever heard of "London Standard Time"? Neither have we. We have
highlighted some of these in the email below, not the least
of which are:
-
Email address ballot: There is no such thing as a
"computer ballot system" or "computer email draw". No one, not even
Microsoft has a database of email addresses of the type or magnitude they
suggest.
-
Terrible spelling, punctuation, syntax and grammar - Scammers
apparently don't know how to use spell checkers. We assume they
dropped out of school before that class. They use almost excessive and random CapItaLiZAtion.
They often can't even spell "February" or know that "22th" ought to
be "22nd". These scammers usually write at the 3rd grade level.
Being non-native English speakers, they also often get first names and
surnames (last names reversed), so you will frequently see names like "Mr.
SMITH JAMES.", instead of "Mr. James Smith", along with the peculiar usage
of periods (full stops) and spaces or the lack thereof.
-
Using free email account: The scammer is writing to
you from a FREE email account (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.). Don't you think a real organization
would use its own email, its own domain and website? Wouldn't they want to
promote that?
-
Keep Confidential - Real promotions THRIVE on
publicity: that's the purpose of them! They don't want you to keep anything secret - the publicity
causes people to buy their product. There is NO risk of "double claiming"
because they can validate where the ticket numbers were sold. The scammer
want you to keep quiet because they don't want the police or ConsumerFraudreporting to hear about them! It should read: "For our own security, you
are advised to keep your winning information confidential until we have
finished scamming you!"
-
What are they promoting? No one promotes "world
peace" or "use of the internet" by handing out millions to random strangers.
And if they are promoting a product or
a lottery, then
this must be the world's worst promotion, because no one has heard of it,
outside of the email you just received. Just giving away money to
random people who have an email address wouldn't promote a darn thing! It is
a scam!
-
Pay a fee to collect the prize: Nope, it is illegal
for free sweepstakes and promotions to charge you ANYTHING! Of course, in a
scam, that is the whole point: to get you to send money to the scammer.
It is a typical scam promotion sweepstakes winning notification. Also
see these pages:
THE LOTTERY DEPARTMENT
COCA-COLA LOTTERY PROMOTIONS
292, Upper Richmond Rd West,
East Sheen, London, SW14 7JG
United Kingdom
TRACK Nš: 51024060210
OFFICIAL PRIZE NOTIFICATION
This is to inform you that have been selected for a cash
prize of $450,000.00 ( FOUR HUNDRED & FIFTY THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLAR)
programs held on the 8TH OF JANUARY , 2008 in the London U.K.
The selection process was carried out through random
selection in our computerized email selection system(ess) from a database of
over 250,000 email addresses drawn from all the continents of the world.
The COCA-COLA LOTTERY is approved by the British/America
Gaming Board and also Licensed by the The International Association of Gaming
Regulators (IAGR). This lottery is the 3rd of its kind and we intend to
sensitize the public.
To begin the processing of your prize you are to contact
your claims officer through our accredited Prize Transfer agents as stated
below:
================================================================
Mr.Vendrich Anderson
292, Upper Richmond Rd West,
East Sheen, London, SW14 7JG
United Kingdom
Email: (info.cokewinningclaimsagent2007@yahoo.com.hk)
Fax: 44-87-1247-2187
Phone Number: +44 7031-9426-15
For further enquiries Please call us (10.00am to 5.30 pm
london Standard Time)
================================================================
contact him, please provide him with your secret pin
code x7pwyz2008 and your reference number BCLY:12052008/21.You are also advised
to provide him with the under listed information as soon as possible:
Claims Requirements:
1Name in
full-------------------------------------------------------------------
2.Address---------------------------------------------------------
3.Nationality-----------------------------------------------------
4.Age----------------------------------------------------------------
5.Occupation----------------------------------------------------
6.Phone/Fax-----------------------------------------------------
7.Present
Country------------------------------------------------------------
==================================================================
all winnings not claim on or before 18TH of JANUARY
would be revoked. Winners are advised to keep their winning details/information
from the public to avoid fraudulent claim (IMPORTANT) pending the transfer/claim
by Winner.
*Winner under the age of 18 are automatically
disqualified.
*Staff of all COCA-COLA Companies all over the world are
not to partake in this Email Promotional Lottery.
Accept my hearty congratulations once again!
Regards
Mr ANTHONY CAMPBELL
(Lottery Manager
