‘United Nations Poverty Eradication’ Advance Fee Scam
The original site is no longer online; links go to the Internet Archive copy.
The claim
Attention: Email Account Holder
Congratulations,
The United Nations Poverty eradication, inclusive growth focus of UN Social Development Commission’s 2018 session
This is to inform you that your Email Address was selected among (10)Lucky Winners that won the total sum of One Million Five Hundred and Eighty Thousand United States Dollars only for 2018 International Free Ticket E-mail Draw which was organized and Sponsored by the UN Social Development/Poverty Eradication Commission’s 2019 session with winning Ref Number UNPEC/EU-005//UN.It might interest you to know that your email address is among the winners in a random World WideWeb computerized draw system, extracted from over a Million Companies and individual email address of the people that are
active online, while Ten lucky winners are selected yearly to benefit from this award and you are one of the Selected Winners.You’readvised to contact (UN) Approved Paying/claims officer through information below for the Processing of Claims/Winning Price.Name:Vera [removed]
Position: United Nations Claims/Winning Prize Clearance Officer:
Tel/Fax Number: Fax: [removed]
Email:[removed]
For more information/clarification visit website below
Website:https: //news. un. org/en/story/2018/01/1001501
Website:http://www.uncc.ch/
Congratulations once again,
Best Regards,
Susan [removed]
Special Adviser to the Secretary General
on Foreign Affairs/Financial Matters
United Nations(UN)
What the fact-checkers found
According to this email, which claims to be from the United Nations, you have been selected as the winner of a 1.5 million dollar prize draw.
Supposedly, the prize is part of a United Nations poverty eradication initiative and was organised and sponsored by the UN Social Development/Poverty Eradication Commission.
The message claims that your email address was selected via a “random World WideWeb computerised draw system”. It urges you to contact a “claims officer” to arrange the processing of your prize.
But, alas, you have not won any money, and the United Nations did not send the email.
The email is a typical advance fee scam designed to trick you into sending your money and personal details to online crooks.
If you fall for the ruse and contact the “claims officer”, you will soon receive a reply asking you to send money to cover various imaginary processing fees. The scammers will warn that, if you do not pay the fees in advance, your million dollar prize will be given to someone else.
If you do send money, you will then receive further payment demands to cover even more fabricated processing costs. The scammers will continue to ask for money until you run out of funds or realise that you are being conned.
After the scam has run its course, the crooks will disappear with all of the money that you have sent. You will no longer be able to contact them. And, no matter how much money you sent, you will never receive the promised million dollar prize, which never existed in the first place.
The scammers may also steal your identity using personal and financial information they have collected from you
Scammers regularly send emails falsely claiming to be from the United Nations.
Advance fee scams are very common. Be wary of any message that claims that you have been selected to receive a large cash prize, grant, or donation for a promotion you have never entered and know nothing about. No legitimate organisation is ever likely to hand out millions of dollars to strangers via the random selection of email addresses.
Any message that makes such claims should be treated as fraudulent. If you receive one, do not respond to it. Just hit the “delete” key.
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