14 DAY TRIAL // Emails entitled “Winner!!! Google Doodle Celebrates Search Giant” and apparently signed by Larry Page himself are attempting to trick recipients into believing that they’ve won a considerable amount of money in a competition sponsored by Google.
The message instructs users to download the attached letter – which comes as both a PFD file and a Microsoft Word document – for more details.
The scammers have put some effort into making the documents as legitimate-looking as possible and they have even included the official Google logo. Although at first sight it may appear to be genuine, a closer look reveals that it's full of typos.
The letter is entitled “Google Doodle Celebrates Search Giant's 14th Anniversary” and it appears to originate from Google’s UK offices.
“Google wishes to congratulate you for being selected as a major customer in the ongoing Google’s 14th Happy Anniversary. You have been awarded the sum of ₤950,000.00 GBP {Nine Hundred and Fifty Thousand Great British Pounds Sterling} A winning cheque/Bank Draft will be issued in your name by Google Promotion Award Team,” the letter reads.
“These Funds is a give away price (Cash Aid) from Google Promotion Board to our esteemed customer that are using Google Product and promoting Google Online. Hence we do believe with your prize, you will continue to be active in your patronage towards Google.”
In order to claim the prize money, victims are requested to provide information such as name, contact address, country, occupation, age and gender. They’re also asked to say if they have ever won an online lottery before and to state their opinion on Google products and services.
The goal of this particular scam might be to earn the crooks a profit by convincing the victim to pay a fee that’s supposedly needed to complete the transaction.
On the other hand, this could also be an attempt to recruit mules for a money-laundering scheme.