Foreign lottery scams

Thousands of people are told every day that they have won lots of money in lotteries they never entered. You may also be asked to pay an administration fee for a prize which does not exist. Lottery scams often use the names of legitimate overseas lotteries (often Spanish lotteries), so that even if you do some research, it will seem genuine.

A good example of the genuine Spanish lottery scammers falsely use is the “El Gordo lottery”.  It is impossible to win this lottery if you have not bought a ticket from an authorised distributor in Spain.

Some other names that scammers will often use are the International Lotto Commission, the Princess Diana Lottery, Canadian and Australian lotteries.

Alarm bells should ring when an email, letter or text message you receive about your winnings ask you to respond quickly or risk missing out. The scammers do this to try and stop you thinking about the surprise too much, in case you begin to suspect it could be a scam or another form of an invitation to send money out using a money transfer service.

 

Another warning sign involves the scammer urging you to keep your winnings private so as to maintain security or stop other people from getting your prize money by mistake. Scammers do this to prevent you from seeking further information or advice from independent sources.

 

For more information on this subject, I invite you to contact me via email, contact@emgfraudconsulting.co.uk.