Coca-Cola warns of ‘you have won £500,000’ hoax
Coca-Cola has warned of a hoax which tells the public that they have won £500,000, saying the company is in no way associated with the scheme.
The scam says the win comes as a result of a prize draw held by the ‘Coca-Cola company in conjunction with the British American Tobacco Worldwide Promotion.’
It continues ‘No tickets were sold but all email addresses were assigned to different ticket numbers for representation and privacy. The selection process was carried out through random selection in our computerized email selection machine (TOPAZ) from a database of over 250,000 email addresses drawn from all the continents of the world This Lottery is approved by the British Gaming Board and also Licensed by the International Association of Gaming Regulators (IAGR).’
In its FAQ section, Coca-Cola has stated “We would encourage consumers to be vigilant when you receive such approaches and ignore them.”
A spokesperson for the Information Commissioner’s office (ICO), told The Drum: “The ICO regulates the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), which cover electronic forms of marketing including email and text message. The regulations state that companies cannot send out marketing messages without identifying themselves and having the recipient’s consent.
“Our message to the public is that if you don’t know who sent you a text message then do not respond, otherwise your details may be used to generate profits for these unscrupulous individuals. This would also apply if a member of the public was uncertain about the authenticity of the message received.”
Discussing what a company should do if they find such a scam falsely using their name, the spokesperson said: “If a company is aware of a false marketing campaign being carried out in their name and they have information on the identity of the individuals or organisation involved, then we would be interested in receiving the details which can be submitted using the reporting tool on our website.
“This case may also be of potential interest to the police as it appears to involve an allegation of fraud.”