Lottery scams
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Most of us dream of winning the lottery, hitting the big time and bagging ourselves a fortune. Now, lots of you are being told that those dreams have come true thanks to some of the most convincing scam letters being circulated yet.
These latest incarnations of an old scam write to let you, the 'winner', know that you've won anything from £100,000 to over £1,000,000. All you have to do is send them a form back with many of your most personal details including those of your bank account and they'll kindly send you the money. Some even ask you for large deposits in order to receive the money - cash you'll never see again.
Never heard of the lottery you're supposed to have won? Don't remember entering the lottery in the first place? Chances are that you didn't and the lottery doesn't exist or is a badly worded version of one you've already heard of. They may have all the right logos and have active phone numbers but you won't be speaking to any real lottery officials.
Actor John Challis received one such letter. John is most famous for his portrayal of Peckham second hand car dealer Boyce from 'Only Fools and Horses' and, more recently, 'Green, Green Grass'. John was so shocked to receive the letter that he got in touch with Watchdog to help warn others out there not to fall for such scams. Unfortunately, many people do. They get sucked in by the letters and money is often taken from their accounts or they send it willingly in the hope of receiving the 'lottery' winnings.
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) attempts to keep on top of the ever changing scams dropping through people's letterboxes. As part of their Scams Awareness Month the OFT has been placing yellow wheelie bins at local libraries. The idea is that every time you get a scam letter through the post, you chuck it in this bin. It is intended to remind people to be wary of these letters and lets the OFT know exactly how the scammers are operating.
For more advice visit the Office of Fair Trading website.
Comment number 1.
At 11:01 25th Feb 2009, Johnfrum wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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At 11:15 25th Feb 2009, Johnfrum wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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Comment number 3.
At 11:18 25th Feb 2009, Johnfrum wrote:I am refering to e-mails where a person claims to run a bank and has dead accounts worth millions, asking you to send your bank details in order to place the money in your account for a supposed share out. I can only assume it is identity theft.
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Comment number 4.
At 14:41 26th Feb 2009, coz934 wrote:I fully understand and agree with John re lottery scams .However I would like to tell you of my experience .
I received a signed for package from USA in 2008 which contained a letter stating that I had won a $1000 on the 2006 International Opinion Sweepstakes . As I was aware of such scams I gave it a lot of thought and advice from relatives but decided to respond as there was no financial links .I sent them an email containing questions about finance ,who they were and why a 2006 lottery .They answered all the questions including the reason for the delay . They said that they had difficulty contacting me and could not close their books util payout .I accepted the reasons and replied tongue in cheek not expecting to hear anything more.Six weeks later I received a cheque for £536 ($1000)which has been cashed .The moral of the story is to question the company but not give anything away .
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At 11:44 3rd Mar 2009, Johnfrum wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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At 14:44 8th Mar 2009, blahbarbara wrote:reading the previous letter scams, please also be very aware of email scams,mine was via yahoo mail. i very nearly fell into this, luckily no account details have been given, but still concerned that they have my age, phone number and maybe my postcode. this email scam was from "power ball lotto" based in croydon (tanfield road, croydon)via an ireland agent. Please be wary...
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At 12:22 31st Mar 2009, Rab1802 wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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At 17:31 21st May 2009, Johnfrum wrote:This comment is awaiting moderation. Explain.
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