Phishing scams involving the misuse of the Coca-Cola name is on the rise, warns Peninsula Beverage Company, the local bottler and distributor of The Coca-Cola Company’s products in the Western Cape. PenBev has urged consumers to be on the look-out for short message service (SMS) or e-mail messages from individuals claiming to be from Coca-Cola, saying that they have won money in lotteries.  The company has asked consumers to notify the authorities and Coca-Cola South Africa’s consumer affairs department immediately before responding to the messages.

“There have been reports recently of fraudulent e-mails to consumers notifying them they have won money in a UK Coca-Cola lottery. One such case that is currently being investigated is a Western Cape man who lost over R119 000 as a result of the scam,” said Denise Behrens, public affairs and corporate communications manager at PenBev.

“Coca-Cola is not associated with SMS’s or emails requesting personal information such as bank accounts and ID numbers from consumers for purposes of redeeming prizes. We would like to urge everyone not to give out their personal details when approached to do so but instead contact our call centre and report these fraudulent requests.”

Consumers can tell if they are truly a winner or have been contacted as part of a scam:

· PenBev and Coca-Cola contact their winners telephonically to notify them of their winnings, never via SMS or e-mail.

· PenBev and Coca-Cola would never ask for any fees to be paid for winners to receive the prize, such as Legal fees, admin fees, clearance fees, delivery fees, packaging fees etc. as this is given free of charge.

· If customers haven’t entered a competition, then Coca-Cola would not contact them.

Bahrens concludes, “An important thing to remember is if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”