Rumor: COCA-COLA® jackpot, COCA-COLA® Award, Cash Prize, Sweepstakes or Promotional Drawing Winner Notification, COCA-COLA® Foundation Cash Aid

Fact

The COCA-COLA® Company has learned of several text messages, emails and letters being sent to people that falsely claim the recipient has either won a sweepstake or a cash prize from our Company.

The text messages direct the recipients to a Website that appears to be, but is not, an official site of The COCA-COLA® Company. The official My Coke Rewards address is mycokerewards.com, and My Coke Rewards is a program offered only in the United States.

Subject lines for the emails have ranged from "You Have Won $1million In The COCA-COLA®™ 128th Anniversary Promo" to "The COCA-COLA® Award Notification" to "The COCA-COLA® Promo Winning Notification" to "The COCA-COLA® Worldwide Christmas Promo", "Notification for COCA-COLA® Foundation Cash Aid", or other similar titles. Some versions of the text/email hoax indicate a joint promotion with the British American Tobacco Company, an annual mid-year COCA-COLA® promotional draw (which includes the name of former COCA-COLA® executive vice president, Carl Ware), or a car giveaway in Hong Kong. The messages also include formal language that makes them look "official", and are sometimes designed to look legitimate by including images or photographs, a "secret pin code" or reference/ticket number and contact information for a COCA-COLA® representative.

The letters are written to look official and may appear to come from a financial institution. They often contain a claim number and may even include a check that appears to be from our Company or another COCA-COLA® bottler.

View samples of these hoaxes we have identified below. NOTE - This sample list does not include all COCA-COLA® hoaxes in circulation. Other hoaxes may exist and may not be included here.

The COCA-COLA® Company is in no way associated with these emails, text messages, letters, unauthorized websites or programs. We are not a sponsor and our name and trademarks are used here without permission.

SAMPLE 1:

Subject: You Have Won $1million in The COCA-COLA® 128th Anniversary Promo

Dear Consumer,

Congratulations!

Your email was randomly picked by aCOCA-COLA®™ powered email newsletter software operated by legally registered United States freelance tech experts to receive a COCA-COLA™ rewards prize of $1million in the ongoing COCA-COLA™ 128th anniversary celebrations email promo. 

For claims, please submit Name, Age, Phone, & Address.

Signed,

Clyde C. Tuggle.

Chief Public Affairs Officer and Communications Officer

SAMPLE 2:

Subject: THE COCA COLA™ COMPANY OFFICIAL PRIZE NOTIFICATION

We are pleased to inform you of the result of the just concluded annual final draws held on the (18th May, 2006) by COCA-COLA® in conjunction with the British American Tobacco Worldwide Promotion, your email was among the 20 Lucky winners who won £1,000,000.00 each on the THE COCA\' COLA™ COMPANY PROMOTION However the results were released on the 20th May, 2006 and your email was attached to ticket number (7PWYZ2006) and ballot number (BT:12052006/20) The online draws was conducted by a random selection of email addresses from an exclusive list of 29,031 E-mail addresses of individuals and corporate bodies picked by an advanced automated random computer search from the internet. However, no tickets were sold but all email addresses were assigned to different ticket numbers for representation and privacy…

SAMPLE 3:

Subject: NOTIFICATION OF THE ANNUAL MID-YEAR COCA-COLA® PROMOTIONAL DRAW

This is to notify you on the 2006 annual mid-year COCA-COLA® promo result which holds in this depot yearly. The 2006 edition was shifted from its usual presentation month of July to August because of the upgrades in our systems which occured during the month of July.

Every Mid-Year, the COCA-COLA® company depot (Surulele Zone) holds this promo from our additional profit, and is assuredly aimed towards affecting

lifes and as a means of arm to the needy. The annual mid-year philantropic gesture is ten (10) years old in Nigeria, and as a result, the COCA-COLA® depot has decided to shift its presentations above the shores of Nigeria till 2012. The 2006 draw was done today the 28th of August 2006 at 8:15am (Nigerian Time).

Electronically, email addresses were gathered from all over the continents of AFRICA (Nigeria Exemptional), ASIA, EUROPE, AUSTRALIA, AMERICA, NORTH AMERICA, & SOUTH AMERICA. Joan a little girl of 5 yrs old was to pick one email from the wholesome of the email addresses in the box in a random mode, and ticket Reference number *44neh19xxfcoca5ecc* which had this email address was selected by Joan.

We proudly present you therefore as the winner of the 2006 edition of the COCA-COLA® mid-year philantropic promo award of 5.2 million United States Dollars only (US$ 5.2m). To inform you that your US$ 5.2m award has for long been deposited into the leading bank here in Nigeria, (Zenith Bank Plc) and was deposited on the 15th day of February 2006 therefore is 100% secured and safe until it is transferred to you....

SAMPLE 4:

Subject: AWARD NOTIFICATION

This is to inform you that have been selected for a cash prize of £2,600,000.00 (Two Million, Six Hundred Thousand Great British Pounds) International programs held on the 26th of September 2005 in the London Uk.

The selection process was carried out through random selection in our computerized email selection system(ess) from a database of over 500,000 email addresses drawn from all the continents of the world.

The COCA-COLA® Company Lottery is approved by the British Gaming Board and also Licensed by the The International Association of Gaming Regulators (IAGR). This promotional lottery is the 2nd of its kind and we intend to sensitize the public.

To begin the processing of your prize you are to contact your claims officer through our accredited Prize Transfer agents as stated below...