Spanish Lottery Scam

[scorrie]

I received a letter from Spain today. It is supposed to be relating to my winning a prize on the El Gordo/Loteria Primiva. According to them I have won 615810 euros as my share of the jackpot split between 17 winners. First thing that got the alarm bells ringing was the fact that I never had a ticket for this, or any other lottery!!

The story goes that the Santa Lucia Security Company entered my name for the draw (very kind of them, it's the sort of thing people do all the time) and they only ask that I give them 10% of the winnings for their time and effort. There is a claims agent that you are supposed to contact to start the ball rolling. It stinks of a scam. The letter is clearly a poor photocopy and I noted that the word "sweepstake" was written as "sweeptake" in the "official" stamp at the bottom of the letter. Not a good sign!! Also, for a Spanish Company, the head office is in Italy (cue Star Trek red alert noises)

I checked it out on google and there have been numerous versions of this scam, some as far back as 2003 and some much more recent. Sadly, I read that some people were tricked into giving the bank details and were milked of thousands of pounds to help "release" their winnings.

Just thought I would bring this to the attention in case anyone has older relatives who might be taken in.

Just off to tell Daniel Carlos to cram this document up his Hacienda.

[johno]

Aye this one has been doing the rounds for a while now.
I suppose some people are falling for it. [disgust]

[Mall67]

I'm surprised people are still falling for these scams. I used to get alsorts of letters telling me I have won money and asking for a payment to release the cash. The best thing to do is put a letter in the pre paid envelope they usually supply, telling them to deduct any charges from your winnings and send you a cheque for the rest. I bet you never hear from them again. IF IT SOUNDS TO GOOD TO BE TRUE IT USUALLY IS.

[bluelady]

Sadly, it's the older generation that tend to fall for this, simply because they are not aware of these scams, unless they have access to computors or are told. I had one such friend who was conned into sending £20 "admin fee"and was then asked for a further £20 for postage etc, I told her it was a scam, cut her losses and run. The other ones are e I have been given so many millions to distribute - yeah right. Also these scratch and win cards, I won a continental cruise, checked it out, it looked genuine, spent £10 in texts as requested for codes etc - still waiting for it 5 years later dispite writing to them several times - Lesson learned - first and last time gullible

[Valerie Campbell]

I never got a letter but I did get a phone call, even though we're ex-directory, to say I'd won an all-inclusive Caribbean cruise. I hung up because I would have known if I'd entered into a comp for that!

[Sasha's Mum]

Hi to everyone who has had one of these emails. I have won so many lotteries these past weeks that I reckon I have left J.K. Rowling standing in the Millionaire list. I always get the warning bells if I have not entered anything and also I dont think an email could be the way I would be contacted had I done so, Glad it is out in the open though as there is always someone who could be 'tricked'. Some of them are so plausible too quoting well known Companies. Best to just delete the whole thing.