Not so long ago one of my fellow Thanet bloggers, Big Adem, exposed an email scam in which the perps were claiming to be dispensing hundreds of pounds worth of M&S vouchers in conjunction with Persimmon Homes. Of course, it turned out to be b*lls.
Now, it would appear, I've fallen foul of a similar scam. This time we're being promised a free case of Veuve Clicquot champagne. Here's what the email says:
Hello all Champagne lovers. Send this message to 10 people, with a copy to markp@spier.co.za Veuve Clicquot France will contact you in order to deliver to you a case of champagne in three weeks. They are doing this to enlarge their database. It does work and you receive 6 bottles in 15 days. Thanks Anna x
Now, upon checking Mr Markp's email address, it would appear to belong to a South African leisure and property business. And just for comparison, here is the French champagne company Veuve Clicquot's site. I rest my case. Or is it half a case? I do wish these spammers would at least be consistent.
Anyhow, as regular readers know my favourite tipple is Krug so it's no loss. And if exposing this gets me 5000+ hits like it did Big Adem, I'll be opening a few bottles this evening!
Update: From Veuve Clicquot's website:
Dear websurfer,
A promotional deal is currently on the Net regarding a free offer of a case of 6 bottles of Veuve Clicquot champagne.
This is a hoax, totally beyond our control; and, of course, we are not the author. We do not gather any e-mail nor build up any database.
We strongly condemn the author of this hoax and hope that it will end.
Yours sincerely,
Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin
7 comments:
There is a long and fascinating history of these scams, and it's hard to see the benefit of a stream of pointless emails to a third party claiming a gift... Here's the full story of this one and dozens of others.
I did collect over 100 examples of the Advance Fee Fraud letters (you know, I have a secret stash of millions that I really want to share with you, dear friend), and I used to average 2-3 a day when I had an .ac.uk email address. Wikipedia tells all. Still, it is nice to get emails, and they're usually very polite...
Thanks for the update Mr Zumi.
BTW, MR Z, I hope you don't think I'm being impertinent, and I am a fan of your site, but are you planning to open up comments to the general public at some stage? I've seen plenty of things I'd have something to say on. Or is that the fear? :-)
I thought I had, and I've been waiting daily for someone of your stature to add comments! They were'nt there for the first few days, but have been there as far as I know since then. Please try again... let me know info@zumi.co.uk if still no joy.
How's the 'hits' going?? I suspect that now I'm writing about me once again the visits from strangers will soon dry up!
Sorry ECR, i'm a cretin, comments are now 'On' on my blog so be as commenty as you like. And thanks for pointing out my shortcomings (just one of many apparently).
Hey Mr Z, this town ain't big enough for two cretins! Expect to be overwhelmed with comments from here on in!
And the hits are coming thin and slow, Adem, as it seems, unlike your discovery, this scam's been doing the rounds for ages.
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