419 scam: "NOKIA LOTTERY PROMOTIONS"<finacorporation@aol.com> CONGRATULATIONS (FINAL NOTICE)

joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet

Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days

Home

About Us

Spam

419/Nigeria

Fraud

Contact

"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.

Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.

Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!

Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

The following fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
- "national lottery promotion" (no such lottery exists)
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "hundred thousand united states dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
This email message is a fake lottery scam. Consider the following facts about real lotteries:
1. They don't notify winners by email.
2. You can't win without first buying a lottery ticket.
3. They don't randomly select email addresses to award prizes to.
4. They don't use free email accounts (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc) to communicate with you.
5. They don't tell you to call a mobile phone number.
6. They don't tell you to keep your winnings secret.
7. They will never ask a winner to pay any fees to receive a prize!
This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- finacorporation@aol.com (AOL; can be used from anywhere worldwide)

Fraud email example:

From: "NOKIA LOTTERY PROMOTIONS" (may be fake)
Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2010 12:54:57 -0000
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS (FINAL NOTICE)

NOKIA INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY PROMOTION

GUANGZHOU ALL ASIA GAME 2010, CHINA.
Nokia Mobile Corporations China.
Customer Service Department
Block A,12/16 F,West Tower
Of Wenhua Bldg East Rd,
Beijing China

Dear Winner,

Reference Number #: CN/5420Z6/10

This is an e-mail notification to inform you that your E-mail Address has won you a cash prize of (US$500,000,00) Five Hundred thousand United States Dollars only including an all-round trip ticket to watch the All Asia Games sponsored by Nokia.

Sweepstakes promotion draws held in Beijing China (NO TICKETS WERE SOLD) The online cyber draws was conducted from an exclusive list of email addresses of Individuals and Corporate bodies picked by an automated random computer selection from Your E-mail Address attached to ticket number:012-0022-0044-778 with Batch Number: 082/19/ZY36. Which subsequently won you the lottery in the 2nd category to file for your claim. Please contact us for due processing and remittance of your prize money by filling the below information:

FULL NAME OF WINNER:
RESIDENTIAL ADDRESS:
NATIONALITY:
COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE:
AGE:
SEX:
OCCUPATION:
MOBILE NUMBER:

Your prize award has been insured with your email address and will be transferred to you upon meeting the requirement of the gaming board authority which includes your statutory obligations. Be advised that all information pertaining to this WINNING FUNDS should be kept extremely CONFIDENTIAL till the funds get to you. This is to avoid DOUBLE claiming of prize.Congratulations from all members and staff of the promotion.

Yours faithfully,

James Lee
Claims Agent
Nokia Asia.
finacorporation@aol.com

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam