Scam emails purporting to come from Coca-Cola carry the message that the recipient has been selected as the winner of the company's anniversary contest and is set to receive $1 million / €880,000.
This is a scam that we have seen circulating in the past with the purpose of deceiving the recipient, so that they pay fake fees and taxes to receive the money. It is a classic fee scam, where the victim pays a small amount of the money they expect, in order to receive the most.
The message circulating in the current case is simple and wants the recipient to have won the prize and to claim it by submitting his name, his age, his phone number, and his address.
If the victim chooses to ignore the various markings found in the email and returns to the required information, the scammers will respond by demanding some monetary amounts to pay the taxes, according to Hoax-Slayer.
When they find a victim who will pay the initial “cost” to secure the alleged prize, the scammers will continuously demand more, invoking a wide range of excuses, since they have absolutely nothing to lose in this way, and they try to take as much money as possible from the victim.
In some cases, scammers also ask for sensitive personal or financial information. These can be used to commit other scams in the future. Every detail from the victim can be used by scammers to make money, either directly or indirectly.
In this message, there are signs that it is a scam. From the way it addresses the recipient, to the fact that this big prize and the energy of the competition are very unlikely to go unnoticed by the media, nor to even be announced on the official social media of such a large company.
