Fraudulent Text Message

[growler~GateKeeper]

Saturday Jul 21 2007 @ 4 am I get this text message on my phone:


Congratulations! You have won $428,000.00 cad. To claim your prize, contact our claims office.

Email:
{claims@stanfordpromotions.org}

Regards,
Stanford Marketing.

I knew right off the bat this is fraudulent. I decided to check online to see if I could find anything about this "company" - they operate worldwide with several website/email addresses that are fraudulent & many people have fallen for this scam.

This is some of what I found on FraudWatchers.org
http://www.fraudwatchers.org/forums/...ad.php?p=35027

Unfortunately far too many people fall for these "legal-looking" scams.
Quote from the prize claims form (sent into FraudWatcher by someone who fell for it):

32 mobile phone numbers were randomly selected from over 20 mobile couriers worldwide. cingular , verizon, T-mobile, Telus Mobility, Orange mobile, Aliant Telecom, Sprint mobile, Rogers, Fido e.t.c. Your mobile number was picked from the 2nd category in the 1st draw, which made you a grand prize winner.

To facilitate the release of your prize, you are required to send the below information to the Remittance Department.

Winning Mobile Number:
Amount won:
Full Names:
Contact Address/ Tel:
Email:
Password Preference:
Age:
Occupation:

Conditions for payment:

In accordance with the Stanford Promotion regulation and our esteemed reputation geared towards funds protection for the beneficiary's interest, we advise that you visit the Northumberland, United Kingdom, between 12th to 21st of July 2007 for the collection of your personal cheque and signing of our release ledger. This signing is a general prerequisite for the release, transfer and confirmation of your fund. We highly recommend you send the following to this office before coming.

1. Scan copy of any means of Identification
2. Scan copy of your recent mobile billing papers. e.g Invoice

EXECUTION OF LEGAL BRIEF
Good day to you. I am Barrister Owen Mason, Legal Counsel to Stanford Promotion. I have being given Authority by the Stanford Promotion to secure an Affidavit of Claim/Clearance from a United Kingdom Court for your claims. Sequel to the acceptance of your offer, I write to inform that I have not received your completed documents of claims.

(a) Copy of your billing invoice from your mobile phone company (Not needed from pay as you go subscriber)
(b) Copy of your identification (International passport or Driver's License)

"A number of points to look out for here: firstly, barristers are officers of the court in the UK and are not allowed, by law, to accept instructions from individual clients." FraudWatchers

"The address of this alleged promotions company is, in fact, the address of a large department store(in the UK) " FraudWatchers

"A completely fraudulent domain registration. The website for the first domain is still the default OfficeLive setup. The site for the second is simply a joke; bitmap images with stolen information, and a login that always takes you to an error page. Still trying to work on it, obviously." FraudWatchers

"The telephone numbers given are "follow-me" services that redirect all calls to virtually anywhere in the world - in this case, probably Nigeria. The services are often paid for using stolen or fake credit card details." FraudWatchers

The websites & email addresses are falsely registered to this company & this is nothing more than a worldwide identity theft scam

If you also receive this message report it to your mobile phone company as fraudulent - this will help the phone company stop the sending of these messages & delete it DO NOT RESPOND to these type of messages. If they try to contact you hang up immediately - the longer you stay on the line they can back-pack their calls using your phone bill - you get charged LD fees

[Frenchy]

Originally Posted by growler

Congratulations! You have won $428,000.00 cad. To claim your prize, contact our claims office.

many people have fallen for this scam.

I can't believe some people I get those kind of e-mails (please help me get my dead's husband fortune out of the bank , bla bla bla ) and I will give you $$$$ yea right

Wake up people , nothing in life is free !

[hazelrunpack]

Did you hit the triangle, Joeyjoejoe?

[growler~GateKeeper]

[QUOTE please don't quote spammers[/QUOTE]

trying to give someone a job spamming people are you?

[marko]

Please don't quote spammers as then i have to edit your posts as well...
thx - Marko

[Karin]

I was getting spam texts last year too but they came to a screeching halt when I added my cell number to the "Do not call list".

[ancientgirl]

That stinks. It never even crossed my mind I could get a fraudulent text. Man, people will do anything to try to shaft you.