BBC Watchdog: Lottery scams

Tony

What Consumer Founder
Apr 7, 2008
18,307
3
38
Bolton
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 will kindly send you the money. Some even ask you for large deposits in order to receive the money - cash you will never see again.

Never heard of the lottery you are 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.



Lottery scams