Nokia Lottery Scam Back in the Spotlight
If you haven’t heard of the Nokia Lottery scam you can consider yourself lucky, because just like the name suggests, this is an insidious attempt made by cyber criminals to trick honest citizens. This is not the first time that the wrongdoers are using trusted brands to lure lottery players and regular people into a trap, but what makes the Nokia Lottery scam special is that it is recurrent. Every now and then, the bad guys come up with a new variant and when the beast rears its ugly head, you better be prepared.
How does it work?
To fully understand the Nokia Lottery scam and how the perpetrators try to deceive lottery players we need to go back in time four years ago. Apparently, some witty cyber criminal who completely lost his moral compass decided to pull out a brand-new scheme in 2009. Back then, Nokia was at the height of its popularity and their phones were widely regarded as some of the most reliable out there. It made perfect sense for the scam artists associate themselves with a trusted brand and the first scam e-mail emerged.
They were not particularly creative and the text was rather dull and uninspiring, but then again fake lottery announcements are usually like this. Random recipients received a notification that they won hundreds of thousands of dollars or three digit amounts, without even purchasing tickets. Nokia Lottery scam was initially devised to target the masses rather than savvy lottery players and that’s why the campaign was indiscriminate and hundreds of thousands of scam emails were sent in the Ethernet.
The Nokia Lottery scam reemerges
The company ran an aggressive campaign to inform customers and regular people that there is no truth behind this alleged lottery. It looked like their efforts finally paid off, because the number of e-mails and SMS sent by the wrongdoers declined. For a couple of years, the Nokia Lottery scam posed no real threat but now it is back in the spotlight and it is more aggressive than ever. The fact that perpetrators send SMS to mobile networks, proves that they are very determined to reignite their operation and are even willing to increase their otherwise puny investment.
Obviously, Nokia doesn’t run a lottery and it will never do, not to mention that it is downright impossible to win a prize without purchasing a ticket regardless of the game. Those who receive an e-mail or message on their smart phone informing them about such a lucky break, should ignore it and block the e-mail address or telephone number. There is no point in replying, because this will only provide the scam artists with the incentive to contact you again. It goes without saying that it is a huge mistake to disclose any personal information, including address and bank account details.
Check out the Don’t become the victim of the Microsoft Lottery scam as well.
