I finally get up a serious piece of writing. I finally decide I'm going to try and do more serious things. I even went so far as to try but lo and behold, I get this in the inbox:

THE COCA COLA COMPANYPROMOTION/PRIZE AWARDDEPTCOCA COLA AVENUESTAMFORD BRIDGE LONDONSW1V 3DW UNITED KINGDOM

THE COCA COLA COMPANY OFFICAIL PRICE NOTIFICATION

We are pleased to inform you of the result of the just concluded annual final draws held on the (2nd July, 2006) by Coca-Cola in conjunction with the British American Tobacco Worldwide Promotion. Your email was among the 20 Lucky winners who won £850,000.00{Eight hundred and fifty thousand Great Britain Pounds} each in the THE COCA\COLA COMPANY 2006 PROMO.

However the results were released on 16th November, 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 29,031,643 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. The selection process was carried out through random selection in our computerized email selection machine (TOPAZ) .This Lottery is approved by the British Gaming Board and also licensed by the The International Association of Gaming Regulators (IAGR).This lottery is the 3rd of its kind and we intend to sensitize the public.

Provide him with the information below:
1. NAME:
2. ADDRESS:
3. OCCUPATION:
4. AGE:
5. SEX:
6. NATIONALITY:
7. COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE:
8. TELEPHONE NUMBER:
9. FAX NUMBER:
10. Ticket Number
11. Ballot Number

To begin the claim processing of your prize you are to contact the fiduciary agent as stated below:

Mr Thomas Lampard
22 Garden Close, Stamford,
Lincs,PE9 2YP,London
United Kingdom

Email: cocacola_department04@yahoo.com

You are to keep all information away from the general public especially your ticket number and ballot number. (This is important as any case of double claims will not be entertained). *Staff of Coca-Cola and the British American Tobacco Company are not to partake in this PROMOTION.

Accept our hearty congratulations once again!

Yours faithfully,
Management

What a hum-dinger! It looks as though the scammers have relocated from Nigeria's Parliament House to, well, Stamford, London. Not exactly an upgrade, and the weather may make assimilation hard, but at least they are trying. And a real company, this is something new. In my previous endeavors, it was either a made-up country or a made-up relative of mine. But this time, obviously slapping on the name Coca-Cola is going to add to the creditability of the scam. Also, it might be noteworthy that there were actual Coca-Cola pictures attached to the top and bottom of the email - real classy.

I'm going to reply, oh yes, I certainly am. But it requires thought. Deep thought and planning. It's been so long since I've had replies from scammers that they are either wising up to the whole scamming of the scammer or I'm not convincing enough. That's why, I intend to get a reply this time by telling them how much I love their delicious and addictive product, how pleased I am that I have won and plead naïvity over my use of the Internet. I will throw so much bait in there, the whole sea will be jumping after the email too.

Thomas.