Warning over Spanish lottery scam

Friday, April 14, 2006 posted 11:18 AM EDT

A POSTAL scam involving the Spanish lottery is targeting people across Scotland.

Victims are persuaded they have won a prize in the draw, but are told they must pay various fees to collect their reward, police and the Office for Fair Trading (OFT) said yesterday.

Police in Inverness highlighted one incident where a man had thousands of pounds stolen after believing he had won a prize worth hundreds of thousands of pounds. The victim handed over bank details to pay a fee to administer a payment which never came. The organisers were untraceable.

The OFT, Northern Constabulary, and other Scottish forces believe the fraudsters are operating using phones, letters, and e-mail.

Detective Superintendent Gordon Urquhart, of Northern Constabulary, said: "There is very little that the police can do when these cons take place. The conmen use unregistered phones and are quite adept at conning people over the telephone or by letter and convincing them they will inherit large sums of money in return for a small outlay or administration fee.

"Unfortunately, we send out these warnings with monotonous regularity, but still people are taken in with the promises of cash."

Lothian and Borders Police said many people did not think of contacting the police about such incidents. A spokesman said: "We are aware of these scams and we would advise everyone to be very wary of them and that if they have any doubts to contact the police."

The scams come in various guises. Most commonly, those involved claim to be attached to El Gordo lottery, the official Spanish lottery which is open only to residents of that country.

Similar scams operate under the names International Lottery de la Primitiva, Euro Million International Promotion Programme, Spanish Sweepstake lottery, Highstake International Program, and El-Mundo de la Primitiva.

To claim the prize, recipients are asked to provide bank account details and are told that 5 to 1032731173140f the winnings will be retained for costs. The "winners" are later contacted and asked for various fees upfront, including taxes, bank costs, delivery costs or insurance processing, in order to release their alleged prize.

Usually, the victim is warned that the deadline to pay these charges is very soon and their right to collect the prize is about to expire.

The OFT has received many complaints, mainly south of the border, from people who have lost up to £25,000, but said it was difficult to estimate how many letters and e-mails were being sent out as most go unreported. The watchdog warned that people should never give out bank details in response to any unsolicited mailing or phone calls.

"You should always be suspicious if you are contacted regarding winning a prize when you have not actually entered a lottery or competition," said an OFT spokesman. "No bona fide lottery would demand upfront fees. Never give out your personal bank details in response to an unsolicited call or mailing."

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