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Oct 1

"You've won a car" Scam - Carlswald

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Play I got a phone call from Divine today telling me I was one of 15 lucky people who had made it to the final draw for a Cheverolet Spark. This is part of an ongoing scam (or network marketing) run by a company that keeps changing it's name. They are currently EcoWorld and were previously Prestige Business Solutions, which use the scam to try and get you to buy a time share at the Quality Vacation Club.

Divine told me that Anna, the "events coordinator" would be phoning me tomorrow morning to give me the address. Does anyone have ideas for what I should say? I'm thinking of accusing her outright and getting a response. Ideally someone with lawyering skillz could tell me what charge to lay and get a case number?

Several other's have blogged about it:

They pointed me to the Our Winners scam site, which is part of the Quality Vacation Club scam (qvc.co.za and. A quick WHOIS shows the following registration which matches the address I am supposed to go to to collect my prize:

registrant: Shackel Validations
registrantpostaladdress: 28 Guildford rd, Carswald Midrand

So, even though the company changes, the address doesn't. If you blog about it please include the address to track their activity across company name changes.

Their phone numbers (likely temporary) are:

Divine - 0878052380
Anna - 0763758026

They also own the domains:

  • qv.co.za
  • qvc.co.za
  • qvcweb.co.za
The QV and QVC domains are registered by PCWizards, and the QV domain hosts iTwizards site. It could be that Sean Behr of PCWizards / iTWizards is part of the scam. Although, they should be chided for hosting these scammers for such a long time either way.

When they phoned, I quickly worked out it was a scam, but decided to go along with it. Two funny bits were when he asked that I come with my wife or partner for the photos. In response, I suggested that I was single but had a boyfriend. He them uncomfortably asked that I try and find a woman. We left it at him "getting back to me" about supplying a model for the photo instead.

The other bit which tipped me off it was a scam was when he asked me to pronounce my surname, given that I have a very pronounceable surname, I asked what he had written down. He then admitted he didn't have my surname, just my firstname, so I lied and gave him a false surname. In retrospect I should have said my surname was "Robert'); DROP TABLE Students;--".

Posted by Dominic White

Last modified on 2008-10-06 17:52

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5 Comments

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  1. Jean-Pierre van Riel says:
    10/02/2008 05:37:32 AM

    So the interesting point to find out, is who gave them your contact details, or where did they get it from? It's strange that he only had your first name - are they trying random cell numbers, connecting to voice mail to hear the persons name, and then contacting the person?

    Can't wait for the new privacy bill - I hope to throw it a Vodacom for all the damn sms spam they allow.

  2. Allen Baranov says:
    10/06/2008 02:10:33 PM

    Hey,

    My wife got contacted by the same scheme.

    She immediately phoned me to ask me to check out whether it was a scam or not. Apparently the phrase "you need your partner to come with you" set off her internal spam filter. (I love the fact that my wife has an internal spam filter.)

    A quick search on the Internet found this place.

    I love the "one of 15 people who made it into the draw" because you automatically assume that you have a 1 in 15 chance of getting a car which is pretty good odds. What they don't mention is that it is not guaranteed that one of those people will drive away with the car - apparently they have a bowl of 100s of keys that may or may not contain the keys to the car.

    If you are a young new salesperson and want to learn how to sell then go to this - these people are amazing professional salespeople. They create a vibe and use every trick under the sun to get you to buy including turning nasty if you are not interested. There is no "take it home and think about it" - you need to buy then and there.

  3. Tony says:
    10/30/2008 09:44:12 AM

    I have just been contacted by the same people and everything I read her is exactly what they have told me. ..esp that I would be contacted tomorrow for the address, and that I need to come with my partner. I was given a phone number and on typing it on the internet, I got this webpage. Has anyone ever attended this so call "you have won a car" thing? They are currently using the name "Prime Vision".

  4. Donn Edwards says:
    11/18/2008 05:25:27 AM

    QVC got so upset with all the comments on my blog they are trying to shut me up by suing me for R461 500. It's obscene.

    Do they really think that this kind of thing won't eventually be exposed by bloggers?

  5. Allen Baranov says:
    11/19/2008 06:36:02 AM

    @Donn

    Sounds like a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation ("SLAPP") attempt.

    Its interesting that they chose a big amount so that it can't be contested in a small court - you need a lawyer.

    It seems to be a very desperate act because I believe that the company would be nervous to take this to court. They are betting that you'd rather remove the article than sit in court and pay a lawyer etc.

    All court proceedings are open and anything that is said in court would be free for anyone to publish - opening a can of worms for them.

    Having said all of that, I am not a lawyer and have no idea what the company is thinking and have no idea what course of action is best for you. :)

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