E-Mail Scammers Use Volkswagen’s Name

Volkswagen has alerted Internet users to be wary of an e-mail scam that says the recipient is the winner of a cash prize of $3.9 million and a new car, reported Gulf News on January 29, 2007. The e-mail allegedly arrived from The Lottery Department, Volkswagen Automobiles but its actual source of origin is Nigeria.

It requests recipients to call at a telephone number it provides, to give a "secret pin code" to a "claims officer" but it actually diverts to a "premium rate number" in Nigeria. Consequently, people who ring at the number land up paying heavy telephone expenses while the scammers get a part of the money collected. The e-mail is one among the numerous lottery scams circulating across the globe that try to harm people with false statements.

An advisory on Volkswagen's Web site asserts that these e-mails have no link with Volkswagen U.K. The company office in United Kingdom recommends recipients of the e-mail, posing to be from the 'Volkswagen Lottery Department' not to respond to it in any form, rather delete it right away. The advisory assures that Volkswagen U.K. has no relation with such e-mail and would not campaign anything like that.

According to experts, such e-mail is another form of the commonly circulating "Letter from Nigeria" scams, also referred to as 419-Advanced Fee Fraud. This letter similarly claims false promises of large sums of money transferred to bank accounts of innocent users but actually purports to demand a transfer fee or steal information relating to the bank accounts of the users.

The e-mail scam has dared to use the name of a world famous car company in order to steal people's money and identities. Unfortunately rather than drive into the fantastic promised car towards the sunset with a bunch of cash, the unwitting computer users fall victim to the scammers and risk surrendering private confidential information into the clutches of fraudsters, said senior technology consultant for Sophos, Graham Cluley in a company press release. Cluley warns anyone who responds to these e-mails will never receive any prize money or find a grand car waiting for him.

Related article: E-Crime Reporting Format To Be Launched in July

» SPAMfighter News - 2/3/2007