Honda Winner Phishing Scam

[moxnix]

I got the following in my e-mail yesterday. Now it came to a box that is not used for junk and very seldom receives any, so of course I had to read it.
I have included the headers for those of you who like to try to trace people out.

X-XXXXXXXX-Received: 6105b9a0205560c976a5d9636df6ba5fe6fa7a89
Delivered-To: XXXXXXXXXXXXX.com
Received: by 10.70.110.3 with SMTP id i3cs2112wxc;
Thu, 13 Oct 2005 04:40:08 -0700 (PDT)
Received: by 10.36.80.10 with SMTP id d10mr2246092nzb;
Thu, 13 Oct 2005 04:40:08 -0700 (PDT)
Return-Path: <williamsalfred23@hotmail.com>
Received: from hotmail.com (bay24-f22.bay24.hotmail.com [64.4.18.72])
by mx.XXXXXXXXX.com with ESMTP id 15si1430686nzn.2005.10.13.04.40.02;
Thu, 13 Oct 2005 04:40:08 -0700 (PDT)
Received-SPF: pass (XXXXXXXXXXX: domain of williamsalfred23@hotmail.com designates 64.4.18.72 as permitted sender)
Received: from mail pickup service by hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC;
Thu, 13 Oct 2005 04:40:02 -0700
Message-ID: <BAY24-F22937B3B59B9DF55A004F2DE7A0@phx.gbl>
Received: from 63.215.198.26 by by24fd.bay24.hotmail.msn.com with HTTP;
Thu, 13 Oct 2005 11:40:01 GMT
X-Originating-IP: [62.192.141.27]
X-Originating-Email: [williamsalfred23@hotmail.com]
X-Sender: williamsalfred23@hotmail.com
Reply-To: stevmorris@walla.com
From: "samuel wisdom" <williamsalfred23@hotmail.com>
Bcc:
Subject: RE: AWARD FINAL NOTIFICATION:
Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2005 04:40:01 -0700
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 13 Oct 2005 11:40:02.0068 (UTC) FILETIME=[D90C3540:01C5CFEA]




HONDA MOTOR CORPORATION COMPANY, THE NETHERLANDS,
IN AFFILIATION WITH DE LOTTO NL INTERNATIONAL
BIJLMERPLEIN
888 1102 MG AMSTERDAM
FROM: THE PROMOTIONS DIRECTOR
INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS DEPT.
TICKET NUMBER: 2752246896
SERIAL NUMBER: 652-662
BATCH NUMBER : AT-040SB06-03


DEAR WINNER,

RE: AWARD FINAL NOTIFICATION:

We are pleased to inform you of the release, of the long awaited
results of
the HONDA MOTOR INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION PROGRAM held on the 2nd
september 2005,Due to mix up of numbers,the results were released on
the 13th octomber 2005


You were entered as dependent clients with: Reference
SERIAL
NUMBER: 652-662 and Batch number AT-040SB06-03.Your email address
attached to the ticket number: 2752246896 that drew the lucky winning
number, which consequently won the sweepstake in the first category, in
four
parts. You have been approved for a payment of 1,000,000.00euros (ONE
MILLION
EUROS.) in cash credited to file reference number: IPL/4249859609/WP1
which
is deposited with a Finance & Security Company in your favour as
beneficiary
and covered with HIGH INSURANCE POLICY. This is from a total cash prize
of
Ten million euros shared among the ten international winners in first
categories. Along with a New Blue Honda FR - V Car.


Congratulations!!!!!

All participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn
from
50,000 (Fifty thousand) names of email users around the world, as part
of
our international promotion program. Due to mix up of some names and
addresses, we ask that you keep this award personal, till your claims
have been processed and your funds remitted to you. This is part of our
security measures to avoid double claiming or unwarranted taking
advantage
of the situation by other participants or impersonators.

To begin your claim, do file this form completely for the release of
your
winning by
contacting the LEGAL DEPARTMENT OFFICE AS YOU FORWARD SAME TO US
MR STEPHEN MORRISON .(Foreign Transfer Manager) ROYAL TRUST AGENCY
BV.HONDA
CLAIMING SECURITY AGENCY.
205 Franz straat, Amsterdam - Netherlands
Email:stevmorris@walla.com

1. FULL NAMES:........................

2. DATE OF BIRTH:.......................

3. SEX:.........................

4. MARITAL STATUS:...................

5. CONTACT ADDRESS:........................

6. TELEPHONE NUMBER:.........................

7. OCCUPATION:.............................

8. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF COMPANY/INDIVIDUAL:.......................

9. REF. AND BATCH NUMBERS:.......................................



They are your agent, and responsible for the processing and transfer of
your
winnings to you.YOUR SECURITY FILE NUMBER IS W-91237-H067/B4 (keep
personal)
Remember, your
winning must be claimed not later than (20th NOVEMBER 2005). Failure to
claim your winning/fund will be added to next 10,000.000 euros AND CAR
international lottery program.

Furthermore, should there be any change in your address, do inform your
claims agent as soon as possible.
Once againCongratulations.

Yours Sincerely,
MR WILLIAMS AFRED
HONDA MOTOR COMPANY/LOTTERY CO-ORDINATOR
HONDA LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL
AN AFFILIATE OF HONDA AMSTERDAM
AND DE LOTTO NL INTERNATIONAL

Notice that they have put a very short cut off date on it also. (I presume to pressure you into answering)

[rapier57]

So, Katja, is that another one of those empty lot addresses?
Just run right down there and check it out, eh?

[Katja]

Lol. Let's check... Amsterdam? My favorite city! (Ajax rocks! and if you don't know what I'm talking about, you're not a soccer-fan. )

Two addresses in this one, though:
DE LOTTO NL INTERNATIONAL
BIJLMERPLEIN
888 1102 MG AMSTERDAM

ROYAL TRUST AGENCY
BV.HONDA
CLAIMING SECURITY AGENCY.
205 Franz straat, Amsterdam

Now, the first thing I notice is the second street name: 205 Franz straat. In the Netherlands the street name comes before the street number, thus: Franz straat 205, not the other way around. The space in the name is also unusual. And funnier, while Franz is a valid first name, in Dutch it's often written as Frans, with an S and not a Z. And this street is apparantly named after just someone's first name. No last name? Weird. There are 7 streets in Amsterdam starting with 'Frans', btw. None start with 'Franz'. So that's a fake one.

Back to the first one. Bijlmerplein 888 could be valid. I think it's the address of the ABN Amro bank at the crossing of Bijlmerplein and Hoogoorddreef. Or perhaps opposite of this bank. It is a valid address, though. Then again, Bijlmerplein is a very popular shopping center in the Bijlmer, a subsection of Amsterdam. So I googled for the address and lucky me: http://www.joewein.de/sw/419-phone-nl.htm
The link shows a list of Dutch addresses used for these scams. And you'll find this address there too. This time:

Mrs. Caroline Van Smith
Games/Lottery Coordinator.
De Lotto Netherlands International
all response should be mail to
agent_robortvpaul@excite.com
=
Mr. Robort Van Paul
Financial Director,
Netherlands Development Finance Company,
De Amsterdamse
Poort Bijlmerplein
888 1102 MG Amsterdam
1000 BV Amsterdam
E-mail:fiduciary_rvpaul@excite.com
Phone number +31-649-208-996
Fax number:+31-84-718-9627

And this one even has an email address and phone numbers. The email address doesn't excite me, though. It's some webmail provider. The +31-649-208-996 is a mobile phone number. It starts with +31-6 (or 06 if you live in the Netherlands.) The whole 6 range is reserved for mobile phones here. Phone numbers in and around Amsterdam start with +31-2 with +31-20 used for Amsterdam itself and the other +31-2 numbers for outside Amsterdam but in the same area. (Haarlem, Schiphol airport, Purmerend, etc.) More regional prefixes are listed at http://www.detelefoongids.nl/netnummers.html in case you're interested.
The +31-84 number is indeed a fax number. It's actually some additional fax service provided by KPN where the phone company will receive all faxes and store them until someone with proper access will download them. My dad has one of those and it's very useful because now he doesn't have to keep a fax machine connected 24/7.

Finally I noticed the email address stevmorris@walla.com and wonder what walla.com actually is. So a visit to http://www.walla.com made that clear too. It's a free email provider, with 3 GB of mailspace. A bit like GMail, I guess.

So we have some pretty wealty organisations here (De Lotto, Honda) and while they can give away ten million Euro yet they can't afford their own email addresses and rely of a free fax service?

I'm not sure but I think this is a scam. Still, there's a 0.00000000000001% chance that it's real. Are you willing to take a chance?

[moxnix]

I'm not sure but I think this is a scam. Still, there's a 0.00000000000001% chance that it's real. Are you willing to take a chance?

Personally, I would say it is positively is a scam. First clue was......it was not even addressed to me, just to my e-mail box. Second clue......I have never entered any contest to win a honda, or any other car, and would not have used this account for it, even if I should have.

edit> I don't know Amsterdam at all. When I was there a couple of times, I very seldom got far from the Canel Street area.

[rapier57]

Well, we didn't want to get your hopes up, Moxnix.

[Katja]

Originally posted here by moxnix
Personally, I would say it is positively is a scam. First clue was......it was not even addressed to me, just to my e-mail box. Second clue......I have never entered any contest to win a honda, or any other car, and would not have used this account for it, even if I should have.

edit> I don't know Amsterdam at all. When I was there a couple of times, I very seldom got far from the Canel Street area.

Well, you can always hope you really win a million Euro's anyway. No fun thinking it's all a scam.

I believe that one or more of those 'Frans' streets are located within the center of Amsterdam. The canal area as you call it. You might have been in one of them even.
About the Bijlmer... It used to be like a ghetto. Many poor people, often with an ethnic background. Many fron the Nederlandse Antillen and Suriname. Much of it used to be a pretty bad neighbourhood. But more than a decade ago an El Al plane crashed in one of the high buildings in the area and suddenly there was international attention for this area. It has been cleaned up considerably since that accident, so I heard. The Bijlmerplein shopping center is actually quite nice. Just don't be there after closing hours because there are still some bad elements there.

I'm not saying that the plane accident cleaned the area up, btw. But they did decide to take down many of the high flats in the area afterwards and replaced them with nicer, lower houses. It's just that afterwards there was suddenly a lot of attention for this area...

[dalek]

I don't know Amsterdam at all. When I was there a couple of times, I very seldom got far from the Canel Street area.

Out window shopping were we dear chap did you at least make it to the Hard Rock Cafe??

Oh I know who Ajax are, I am surprised you said soccer though, shouldn't it be football, (gooners fan)

[nihil]

dalek

Oh I know who Ajax are, I am surprised you said soccer though, shouldn't it be football, (gooners fan)

No, "football" is too generic. We have "soccer", "Rugby football", "Gaelic football", and "American football".............the Australians also have their own "football"

"gooners fan"................so was Osama bin Laden when he was at university in London

[dalek]

so was Osama bin Laden when he was at university in London

Gee you guys actually let him attend your prestigious university, must be some proud eh!

Soccer/football, my mistake? http://www.elsporto.co.uk/nonlea/bridling.shtml sort of like field hockey and real hockey, so tell me what does the FC stand for on most of the clubs over there. (fish & chips)

[moxnix]

Originally posted here by dalek
Out window shopping were we dear chap did you at least make it to the Hard Rock Cafe??

The Hard Rock Cafe wasn't even dreamed about when I was there. The first Hard Rock is less than 10-15 years old (guessing there) and I was there in the late 60's. A few years difference.