Nokia Celebrates 40 Years – beware the scam!

GLOBAL – There have been a ton of reports recently that scam artists are once more sending out hoax SMS and emails, purportedly from Nokia, that offer some sort of money if one were to respond, faux lottery style. Sorry folks, these are not coming from any legitimate source. Nokia don’t do money lotteries, so beware the scam. If you see this message, then know it’s a scam.

“Nokia celebrates 40 years and Your Mobile Number has won you £900,000.00 GBP Pounds in the Nokia Awards. To claim your prize email this claim code: EMAJIN to somerubbish@gmail.com”

I’ve been seeing comments coming in asking if they are true.  If you do receive something fishy like these, do NOT reply to these messages or pass them on. The thing to do is to delete the message without responding. You might also consider contacting your local authorities to report such hoax messages.

I have listed the more common forms of these hoaxes after the jump. Click through to make sure you don’t get hoaxed.

Nokia 40yrs txt SCAM!

Examples of hoax emails and SMS circulating:

Hoax claim: Free Nokia mobiles
“Nokia Is Giving Away Phones For “FREE”!! Nokia is trying word-of-mouth advertising to introduce its products. And the reward you receive for advertising for them is a phone free of cost!”

Hoax claim: Nokia mobile promo
“In line with the commemorating event marking our 142nd anniversary we rolled out over £nnnnn (n Million Great Britain Pounds) for our 142nd Anniversary Draws. All participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn form 25,000 company mobile numbers, and 30,000,000 individual mobile numbers from the 45 mobile networks from Australia, New Zealand, North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Africa as part of International Promotions Program, which is conducted annually in Britain, London.

This promo is approved by the British Gaming Board and also licensed by the International Association of Gaming Regulators (IAGR). This promo is the 1st of its kind and we intend to sensitize the public. To begin the verification process of your prize, you are required to fill and send the claims form below.”

Hoax claim: Nokia/UK promo
Congratulations! Your cell phone has won you nnnnn (GBP) pounds in the ongoing NOKIA/UK PROMO. For claims call: 44xxxxxxxx or email: hoax.example@fakelottery.com

Remember folks.  IT’S A SCAM!

25/09/2011 Update:  We reckon sunny Australia has just been hit by this scam as we’ve had hundreds of hits in the last few hours originating from google search engines via Australian ISPs.  So if you’re from down under, tell us… Have the changed the prise to Aus$??!

25/09/2011 Update: Well if web stats are anything to go by, then Mongolia and Singapore, swiftly followed by Ireland have also been hit (again, in Ireland’s case) by the Celebrate Nokia’s 40th scam.  Lots more hits coming in.  If you’re reading this and have been sent this bogus text, let us know where you’re from so we can try and track it’s progress around the globe?

Popularity: 23%