Have you received an email from "Kelly Wolferson" at "Toyota Car Promotions and/or FIRST FLIGHT DELIVERY PARCEL COMPANY." saying you won
their promotion or lottery promo and to contact "Thomas Andersson" 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:
Dear Winner,
Claims Agent Kelly Wolferson
Toyota Car Promotions
Haandvaerkervej 8,1 UK-9000 Aalborg
CVR-nr. 25554493.
Attn: ,
Congratulations once again from the
Toyota car
promotion company,Your email address was lucky to be picked as a
winner,among the selection process which 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.
YOUR PAYMENT AND TOYOTA CAR RELEASE HAS BEEN
APPROVED, CONTACT OUR ACCREDITED COURIER SHIPPING COMPANY IMMEDIATELY
We acknowledge the receipt of your documents.
You are required to make contact with the shipping
company as soon as possible, and discuss with them how your toyota prius car
and your cheque would be delivered to your home country and how much it will
cost you for shipping.You will need to contact FIRST FLIGHT DELIVERY PARCEL
SERVICES UK which is our accredited delivery company.You are to reach them
with the information below.
NOTE: You do not have much time to get this done. I
advise you act fast and get in touch with Mr Thomas Andersson of FIRST
FLIGHT DELIVERY PARCEL SERVICES UK .His contact information is stated below:
FIRST FLIGHT DELIVERY PARCEL COMPANY.
OFFICE ADDRESS:FIRST FLIGHT DELIVERY PARCEL COMPANY.
OFFICE ADDRESS:UNIT 3,HOUNSLOW BUINESS PARK, ALICE
WAY,HOUNSLOW, MIDDLE SEX, UK.
TW33UD.
Correspondence:Thomas Andersson(Customers Attendant)
Email: (1)firstflightdeliveryservice@hotmail.com
TEL:+44-703-195-7210
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.
Regards,
Mr. Kelly Wolferson,
Your Claims Agent.
