Fraudsters from Overseas Target a Hamilton Man in an Online Lottery Scam

An elderly resident of Hamilton (New Zealand) has been targeted by overseas fraudster, The fraudsters tried to con money out of him after claiming he had won more than £800,000 in a British lottery, reported stuff.co.nz on May 29,2012.

Mike Handley, the detective of the Waikato fraud squad said that the man received an email from the fraudsters stating to be from a coca cola office (Soft drink company) of London. The email congratulates him for winning the 'coca cola 2012 promotion' and stated that he had won over £800,000, reported stuff.co.nz on May 29, 2012.

Mike Handley said a following email, asked the man to send number of personal details through email such as bank account number and passport details. The mail also asks him to transfer an administration fee to a London-based account with a Hong Kong bank.

As he become suspicious, he contacted the coca cola head office in the US who verified they had no such competition underway.

Mike Handley said: "one of the primary things here is the old message; if it seems too good to be true it is generally is', often offenders involved in such activity target the elderly who, due to generation gap are sometimes more trusting of things they get via the internet than say a younger generation may be," as published by sunlive.co.nz on May 29, 2012.

Handley says that usually companies suggesting people who have won a competition would have all the necessary details to contact the person because the person would have provided them when filling out the entry form. Also, companies don't charge people for administrative fees before they claim for the prizes. The ministry of consumer affairs maintains an advanced database of different scam but if in doubt don't hesitate to contact the police, added by Handley.

Moreover this is the first time coca cola has been targeted by online scammers. In January 2011, internauts received a scam email supposing from coca cola that declare that the recipient could receive $150 by following a link and filling a short online survey that were furnished within the email.

Related article: Fraudster Acquiesce To Online Bank Theft

» SPAMfighter News - 6/5/2012