Protect Yourself and Report the Latest Frauds, Scams, Spams, Fakes, Identify Theft Hacks and Hoaxes
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Have you received an email from "KATE BLUE" at "HEINEKEN N.V ANNUAL SWEEPSTAKE PROGRAMME" saying you won their promotion or lottery promo and to contact "Michael Woodgate" to collect your winnings? 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. 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, then this must be the world's worst promotion, because no one has heard of it, outside of the email you just received.
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:
From: Heineken Promotion < info@heinekenpromotion.com >
Sent: Saturday, March 24, 2007 8:55:00 AM
Subject: Congratulation....Winning NotificationHEINEKEN PROMOTION
P O Box 1632
Liverpool, LN12 9JH.
United Kingdom.
Ref: HEUS/1023/8167/05
Batch: RR3/F112-59/USPM
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
We dedicate to you the draw of the HEINEKEN PROMOTION online Sweepstakes International Program held on 23rd February, 2007.
Ticket number: 44675600545 188
Serial number 8976/05
winner number: 2
Annual Promo PLUS 1
You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of $1,000,000.00 US dollars (One Million US Dollars) in cash credited to file USTT/9023118308/05HG of the Heineken Annual promotion.
All participants for the online version were selected randomly from the World Wide Web through a computer draw system and extracted from over 100,000 unions, associations, and corporate bodies that are listed online. This promotion takes place annually.
Please note that your lucky winning number falls within our African booklet representative office in Lagos as indicated in your play coupon. In view of this, your US$1,000,000.00 dollars would-be released to you by any of our payment offices in(Africa).
To file for your claim, please contact our Claims Agent:
Michael Woodgate (Mr).
#4 Park Lane, P.O.Box 2611
Liverpool, LN12 6JH
Tel: +44 701 112 0395
44 702 402 1968
Email: heinekennv.michael@yahoo.co.uk
Provide him with the information below:
1. Name:
2. Address:
3. Occupation:
4. Marital Status:
5. Age:
6. Country: (Present Location)
7. Nationality:
8. Telephone:
9. Fax number: (if any)
That way your Winnings Verifications Form can be prepared for you. Note that all prize funds must be claimed not later than Two Weeks. After this date all funds will be returned to the LOTTERY TREASURY as unclaimed. In order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications, please endeavour to quote your Reference Number: (HEUS/1023/8167/05) and Batch Number RR3/F112-59/USPM in every correspondence with your agent. Furthermore, should there be any change in your address, do inform your claims agent as soon as possible.
For security reasons, you are advised to keep your winning information confidential till your claims is processed and your money remitted to you in whatever manner you deem fit to claim your prize. This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program. This is very real, Please be warned.
Congratulation from the members of staff of the Heineken N.V. company.
Yours faithfully,
KATE BLUE (MRS).
Promotion Co-ordinator: HEINEKEN N.V ANNUAL SWEEPSTAKE PROGRAMME
Click here for the huge list of the names of the currently identified lottery scams companies
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