When I checked my inbox earlier, I received a message bearing the name "Google Corporation" as sender. If you have also received similar e-mail, DO NOT REPLY AND DO NOT GIVE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION. This is just another phishing scam. The body of the letter says:
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Google Corporation
Peter House
Oxford Street
Manchester
M4 6AN
United Kingdom
HAPPY GOOGLE ANNIVERSARY
On the 4th of September 1998, Google was incorporated as a privately held company. Google Corporation is one company that earns its profit mainly from advertising using their very own Google search engine, Gmail , Gala, Sify, e-mail service Google Maps, Google Apps, Orkut social networking and YouTube video sharing, which are all offered to the public for free.
We wish to congratulate you once again, for being selected as a winner in the ongoing Happy Google Anniversary Promotion. Hence we do believe with your prize, you will continue to be active in your patronage to Google.
The online cyber draws was conducted from an exclusive list of over 6,000,000 email addresses of individuals and corporate bodies picked by an advanced automated random computer selection from the web. (NO TICKETS WERE SOLD). The primary objective for this Corporation is to encourage individual that are active Users of Google search engine and Google ancillary service. Google is currently the world leading search engine worldwide, and is vigorously making more effort to make sure the reputation of the company stands out to be the best among the rest, with the optimize help of our customers worldwide.
A Bank Draft will be issued in your name by the Google Promotion Board, you have therefore won the entire sum of 640,000.00 GBP {Six Hundred and Forty Thousand Great British Pounds} and also a certificate of claim price will be sent alongside your Bank Draft.
CONTACT CLAIMS OFFICE:
Google Promotion Board
Email: gpromo.info@gala.net
Do e-mail the Claims office at once with the Verification and Funds release form below for validation of your prize and to avoid unnecessary delay.
VERIFICATION AND FUNDS RELEASE FORM.
.Residential Address:
.Tel (Mobile):
.Nationality/Country:
.Full Name:
.Age/Sex:
.Occupation/Position:
.What is your comment on Google?
You are advised to contact the Claims Office with the following details (Ref NO: GC/468-642GC/P, Batch: GC064WIN).
For security reasons, you are advised to keep your winning information confidential till your claims are processed and your money remitted to you. This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program by some unscrupulous elements. Please be warned.
Congratulations from the Staffs & Members of Google Board Commission.
Eric Schmidt
Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
©2010 Google Corporation
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PLEASE, PLEASE, DO NOT FALL INTO THIS TRAP. BE CAUTIOUS ALSO OF OTHER E-MAILS THAT YOU RECEIVE SAYING YOU HAVE WON ANYTHING OR SAYING THAT THE SENDER WANTS TO MAKE A DEAL WITH YOU WHERE YOU WOULD BE ASKED TO DEPOSIT A BIG SUM OF MONEY IN A BANK AND YOU GET A CERTAIN PERCENTAGE THEREOF.
DO NOT BE A VICTIM!
Posts
Thanks for the warning! (I got one as well..)
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome. You just have to be very careful when opening your e-mails because there are plenty of this kind of scams on the internet right now.
ReplyDeleteI once received an e-mail claiming to be coming from Western Union saying that an item addressed to me was undelivered because of some missing information. That was another phishing scam. I intended to post it here but I already deleted the email and never found it in my Sent folders.
This is a kind of fraud on the internet, it mainly targets unsuspecting innocent hard wordking poor people. I wish there was a law or any punishment for the thugs and hooligans who commit such an act.
ReplyDelete@ Anonymous: You're right. I sure hope that people who do this get caught and face legal charges. I am sure that someone has fallen into this kind of phishing scam, and the perpetrators are definitely preying on innocent people.
ReplyDeleteJust the e-mailaddress makes you think twice...
ReplyDeleteYeah, email addresses can say a lot about the legitimacy or illegitimacy of the email.
ReplyDeleteI got one also to Finland. Thanks for warning!
ReplyDelete@tuulensuu: you are welcome.
ReplyDeleteActually, I excited when received this email, but at the same time I'm trying to get some information about this unsuspecting email. Thank you for the warning!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your warning, I got one as well in Denmark.
ReplyDeletehi
ReplyDeletei also get this e mail
בניית אתרים
Google Lottery Corporation,
ReplyDeletePeter House, Oxford Street
Manchester, M1 5AN.
London, United Kingdom.
Google Corporation is one company that earns its profit mainly from advertisement and e-mail
service provider using her very own Google search engine, Gmail, Gala, Sify, e-mail service
Google Maps, Google Apps, Orkut social networking and You Tube video sharing, which are our
services offered to the public for free. Google came into existence and was incorporated as a
privately held company on the 4th of September 1998.
Google therefore heartily wishes to congratulate you once again, for being selected as an active
user of Google services in the ongoing Happy Google Anniversary Promotion which was
conducted to encourage all active users of Google services.
You have been selected as a lucky winner of £640,000.00 {Six Hundred and Forty Thousand
Great British Pounds} through our lottery programme in the ongoing Happy Google Anniversary
Promotion. Hence we do believe that with your winning prize, you will continue to be active in
your patronage to the Google services.
A Bank Draft will be issued in your name by the Google Promotion Board, and also a certificate
of claim price will be sent alongside your Bank Draft.
You are therefore advised to contact Mr. Nolan Blair for further directives on how best you can
claim your winning sum with the below form properly filled:
.Residential Address:
.Tel (Mobile):
.Nationality/Country:
.Full Name:
.Age/Sex:
.Occupation/Position:
.What is your comment on Google?
Claims Office: Google Corporation
Claims Manager: Mr. Nolan Blair
Email: nolan.blair67@googlemail.com
Alternative Mail: nolan.blair69@gmail.com
You are advised to contact the Claims Office with your secrete winning details (Ref NO: GC/468-
642GC/P, Batch: GC064WIN)
For security reasons, you are advised to keep your winning information confidential till your
claims are processed and your money remitted to you. This is part of our precautionary measure
to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program by imposters. Please be
warned.
Congratulations from the Staffs & Members of Google Board Commission.
Eric Schmidt
Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
©2010 Google Corporation
Google should take actions regarding this , Google should deactivate the email id mentioned in this letter..
thank you
I sent google the url for these thieves
DeleteHi Adrian, i just received the same email today this morning when i open my email. I printed the email and started to find out the thruth about it. Then i came cross your warning and read every comments about. M lucky that u had sent out this warning earlier on. Thanks you so much.
ReplyDeletea lot of of e-mails similar to this are circulating all over the internet. i guess, we all just have to be careful. :)
ReplyDeleteHei, I got the same mail in Norway,thanks for the warning...
ReplyDeleteHi, got one today. Very good though, from mail adress: no-reply@google.com
ReplyDeleteI got the same letter today in Holland....never trust such mails. I deleted the letter immediately.
ReplyDeletewell I sent my data, now what??? except that they have my pre-paid phone number, gmail account address and home address, what harm may it do??
ReplyDelete@zeljka: sometimes they use data to pose as that person (identity theft)... and sometimes they send a link to that person, say, telling them to confirm their identity in a given site by typing credit card number and other sensitive data. but if you receive any link from them and if you doubt their legitimacy, better not give them sensitive data.
ReplyDeleteI also got one in Greece...Darn too bad it's fake!!! I could have realy used that winfall :0(
ReplyDeleteOne year later and this one is still going strong, although I notice the email address keeps changing. Any point in notifying law enforcement, or the email domain, about this?
ReplyDeleteAlso, if Google incorporated on September 4, 1998, why would anyone think they are holding anniversary events on January 22, 2011? What kind of anniversary is that?
Hello, Robert. You're right. A lot of people still keep on receiving this kind of email. I think Google is already aware of this. I am not sure of the legal procedure to take because it will depend on what law is being followed in a country. But I guess Google is already aware of this. Google should at least initiate an action because it is their company that is being misrepresented.
ReplyDeleteHave a nice day. :)
Thank you. Just got it. I guess some people fall for it because I get so many of these emails.
ReplyDeleteThanks Adrian for the warning. I sent all my fake data together with your warning. They should take the meaning, more people realised their fake activity.
ReplyDeleteHy adrian, i got the same email like u.
ReplyDeleteIs it really a Fraud? because they use of Google's name, i almost believe it and will do some payment skynet worldwide express bill in western union. is there any trust web or information that we can do complaint?
I just received it today in Bulgaria. My first impulse was to reply "accordingly", but then simply deleted it.
ReplyDeleteValeri
Thanks a lot Adrian for the warning. I got this email from "Google Inc Headquarters" [googlenotification@google.com] also in Latvia.
ReplyDeleteI just received one in czech republic
ReplyDeleteeven with logo in pdf format
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI received one today in Portugal. Are there any autorities to who we can re-send the e-mail to?
Jorge
I think laws vary from country to country. It will be a problem of jurisdiction. If you are using yahoo or msn, I am sure there is a way of reporting it to them. But as to authorities in one's country, I cannot say. The best thing we can do for now is to not fall into this trap and to inform other people (as many people as possible) that scams like this exist.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI received same email today. Thanks for the warning.
Thank's Adrian for the warning.I received same email too in Indonesia.
ReplyDeleteHave also received same email today. thanks for the warning!!!
ReplyDeleteI also received one but mine is from "Larry Page". The first thing I did was to look at their formatting, grammar etc, and I must admit on this first line of credibility it is the best I have seen so far. But, all said and done, I discovered a few inaccuracies and this caused me to GOOGLE this topic - and guess what you have verified this to be the scam that I thought it is. Good work Adrian!
ReplyDeleteThanks, I received one here to Finland today. Fine work .. thank you all telling about this fraud!
ReplyDeleteJan. 24th got one sent from the UK all look good but the phone numbers BEWARE of google happy anniversary
ReplyDeleteThanks Adrian for the warning. I've received the same email in Taiwan. How I wish this is true!!!
ReplyDelete