Have you received an email from "Dominic Gerard" at "Peugeot Automobiles Lottery" saying you won
their promotion or lottery promo and to contact "Sir Paul Wilson" 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 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:
From: PEUGEOT AUTOMOBILES LOTTERY [mailto: info@peugeot.org ]
Sent: Sunday, April 08, 2007 12:34 PM
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Subject: Notification Letter..
PEUGEOT AUTOMOBILES LOTTERY
Peugeot Auto-mobiles headquaters, 19 Ul,
Essex , PE9 2YP , London
United Kingdom.
www.Peugeot.com.
AWARD PRIZE NOTIFICATION.
This is to inform you that you have been selected for a cash prize of
£300,000.00 (Three Hundred Thousand Great British Pounds) and
a brand new Peugeot 407 Car,From the International online programs held on the
8th of April 2007 in London the United Kingdom .
To begin the processing of your prize you are to contact the remittance
department with the emails address provided below through our accredited Prize
Transfer agents as stated below:
===============================================================
Sir Paul Wilson
E-mail: wilson_claimsagent107@yahoo.co.uk
Tel: +447045708544
==============================================================
Contact him with your secret pin code PGA00111234 and your reference number
PGA: 12058006/06.You are also advised to provide him with the under listed
information as soon as possible:
Claims Requirements:
1. Name in full-----------------------
2. Address----------------------------
3. Sex--------------------------------
4. Nationality/Religion---------------
5. Maritual Status--------------------
6. Age--------------------------------
7. Next Of Kin------------------------
8. Occupation-------------------------
9. Phone/Fax--------------------------
10. Present Country-------------------
===============================================================
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 is automatically disqualified. *Staff of the
Peugeot Company world wide is not to partake in this Car Promotional Lottery.
congratulations once again!
With Best Regards
Mr. Dominic Gerard
Lottery Manager.
