Have you received an email from "Mr. Vanden MacAlister" at "PEPSI NEW
YEAR AWARD" saying you won their promotion or lottery promo and to contact "Mr.
Anthonio Roberts" to collect your winnings? It is a scam.
Pepsi doesn't run a lottery or give away millions to get people to drink their
soda, and they certainly don't need to encourage "internet users as well".
Any promotions they do are tied to purchases of their products, signing up on
their website, or some other form of loyalty reward; not a random distribution
to people who have a pulse or email address.
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 give money away randomly to encourage you to buy their product. That would be
pointless and 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.
We have
highlighted some of these in the email below, not the least
of which are:
It is a typical scam promotion sweepstakes winning notification. Also
see these pages:
Date: Fri, 28 Mar 2008 17:41:27 +0100
From: "Vanden MacAlister" <
pepsi.claims08@gmail.com >
Subject: OFFICIAL CLAIMS PROCESSING!! CALL THE
DELIVERY DEPARTMENT ON 00447045704502
THE PEPSI COMPANY
PROMOTION/PRIZE AWARD
1 Canada Square, Canary Wharf,
London E14 5DY, United Kingdom.
"OFFICIAL" PEPSI CLAIMS PROCESSING.
Dear Winner,
This is to confirm receipt of your mail and to let
you know that we have verified all your particulars. All documents have been
put in place for you to claim your winning. You have been approved, for the
payment of the sum of 1,500, 000.00 Pounds Sterling. Your check has already
been issued.
THE PEPSI CONSUMER PROMOTION.
Your email was attached to ticket number
(7XBYZ2006) and ballot ticket number BTN:41632006/20).
The online draws was
conducted by a random selection of email addresses from an exclusive list of
2,900,031 E-mail addresses of individuals and corporate bodies picked by an
advanced automated random computer search from the internet. However, no
tickets were sold but all email addresses were assigned to different ticketnumbers for representation and privacy.
The selection process was carried out through random
selection in our computerized email selection machine (TOPAZ) from a
database of over 25,000,000 email addresses drawn from all the continents of
the world. This Lottery is approved by the European Prize Consumer Award
Promotion 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. This promotion, is to reward our esteemed customers.
In an event, where you have never purchased any of our numerous product, we
hope that after this you will begin to patronize of products, as the are
available world wide.
To file claim, for your 1,500,000.00 Pounds Sterling
(One Million, Five hundred Thousand Pounds Sterling) prize winning. You are
hereby requested to contact the delivery department on the email and
telephone number below.
You can reach the delivery Dept at:
Universal Express Delivery Service.
Contact Person: Mr. Anthonio Roberts
Email:
univex.delivery@yahoo.co.uk
Phone: +44 704 5704 502
Fax: +44 700 6044 246
NOTE:
You are to contact them with the following
information within the next 24hours;
1. Full name
2. Address where you would want the parcel delivered
to.
3. Telephone Number/Fax Number.
We look forward to your prompt response, should you
have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us as soon as you possibly
can.
My contact telephone numbers are given below:
+44 703 590 2804
+44 703 590 2773
The beneficiary would be responsible for the cost of
endorsemnt and legalization
of his/her winning documents to enable this agency make alternative
arrangements for transfer of your winnings with a cashiers certified cheque.
You are to inquire from them, what it will cost to
have your check delivered to you.
Once again, congratulations on behalf of myself and
the entire officials of the PEPSI ONLINE PROMO.
Regards.
Mr. Vanden MacAlister
Pepsi Payout Officer.
ASK FOR MORE.............
