Sample Promotion Prize Scam Email:
Bentley
"Linda, Regional cordinator
", "Mr. Robert West"
Have you received an email from "Linda, Regional cordinator
" at "Bentley" saying you won
their promotion or lottery promo and to contact "Mr. Robert West" to collect your winnings?
Notice how many times they misspell "Bentley". Odd that they can spell
their own company's name correctly? Not when 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 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:
-
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:
Sample scam email
Hi Mr John Smith
RE: BENTLEY28722662/726-099Mr John Smith
I am delighted to announce to you an award from Bentley organization.
Via a computer ballot system conducted by Bentley as part of their Easter
promotions for the year 2007, your name and email address came up in a
random draw for a cash award of $300,000 (Three hundred thousand United
States Dollars only).
Your award winning number is: BENTLEY28722662, ticket number 726-099. You
are strongly adviced to keep your winning confidential. Hense contact your
claims executive immediately to begin processing your cash award winning.
Mr. Robert West
E-mail: robertwestmail@sify.com
Please email the following details to Mr. Robert West your claims
executive:
Your full name ,Your telephone number including area code, your cellular
phone number (most importantly including area code)
Your fax number including area code
Your recent email address and mailing address (for delivery of your
certified check)
Your reference number: BENTLEY28722662/726-099Mr John Smith
Your claims executive shall provide you detailed information about the
promotions and also advice you on how to receive your cash award. Your
certified check has been issued and currently with your claims agent hence
contact him for further information.
PLEASE DO NOT REPLY THIS EMAIL RATHER CONTACT ONLY YOUR CLAIMS AGENT
Congratulations on your success in this years Bently promotions award
Linda
Regional cordinator
Names of Scam / Fake / Fraud Lottery
Click here for the huge list of the names of the currently identified lottery
scams companies
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