Spanish Lottery Warning from OFT

MSE_Martin

The following is a press release from the office of fair trading

Spanish lottery scam hits Britain

A Spanish lottery scam is targeting UK consumers, warns the OFT.
9 December 2004: Mailings purporting to come from the El Gordo de la Primitiva Lottery in Madrid are being sent to UK consumers claiming they have won the Spanish lottery. In order to claim their 'prize' recipients are asked to provide their bank account details and told that 5-10 per cent of the winnings will be retained for costs. However the 'winners' are later contacted and asked for a various fees in order to release their alleged prize, and they never receive a penny. The OFT has received dozens of complaints from people who have lost up to £25,000.

The OFT is warning that people should never give out their bank details in response to an unsolicited mailing or phone call.

The El Gordo lottery is the official Spanish lottery but it is only open to Spanish residents. The people behind this scam are not connected to the real El Gordo lottery.

Similar scams are also operating 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.

John Vickers, OFT Chairman, said:
'You should always be suspicious if you are contacted regarding winning a prize when you have not actually entered a lottery or competition. No bona fide lottery, such as the El Gordo Spanish National Lottery, would demand up-front fees. And never give out your personal bank details in response to an unsolicited call or mailing.'

PUBLIC enquiries: 0845 7224499
enquiries@oft.gov.uk

OFT reports and consumer information leaflets are available free from: OFT, PO Box 366, Hayes UB3 1XB 020 8867 3272 oft@eclogistics.co.uk

Cullumpster

I've actually had this e-mail a couple of weks ago,

It was titled EUROPEAN LOTTERY and told me i'd won x amount, can't remember the exact amount but it was hundreds of thousands! ;D

I've also been sent 5 of the African "someone died on a plane/Train/Shooting and you've got millions" emails, and i've got altogether now much more than Posh, Becks and Elton John put together.

Seriously though, i just mail them back to them as abuse, eg if it came from a yahoo address i mail abuse@yahoo.com and cc there address in as well ;D

I was advised to contact my local police staion and foward the emails to them, but after checking on there web site they've said that they don't want anything to do with them and to just delete them! :-/

That'll stop um then!

Skippy2roo

My mother in law had sent through the post this week a letter from,

The Spanish Lottery Sweepstake S.A

Apparently she has won 3 million Euro's

Although she is 76 years old, thankfully all her gears and cogs are still functioning and she spotted a scam a mile off, but how many other pensioners would not and fall for it ?

lynx10

Just to flag that the 'El Gordo' scam is still live - letter/envelope received this morning with Almeria postmark (dated 28th March), notifying me of 615,810 Euros winnings, requesting bank account details to be faxed to Don Pedro Gomez at Atlantico Grupo Security Company SA, Madrid, 00 34 911 817 577

More Consumer Direct info here:
http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/watch_out/scams/foreign-lotteries

JohnnyW_3

Still going strong! Go an actual letter in the post dated 22nd September 2008 - postmarked Almeria.

From "Ms Ellen Mario" regarding the "El-Mundo Sweepstake Spanish Lottery". We'd won 785,510 Euros! Just need to call "Dr Jose Miguel Pinto".

Clearly printed on a home ink-jet printer and looks like crap.

What a weird scam... Technically we know the details of the scammers...?!?

Tel: 0034 695 882 505

Address:
C/Ayala 36, Planta 1, 28113 Madrid, Espana.

Francesca99

Another letter dated 3 Nov 2008 was received by my mother (age 76) saying she had won €615,000. So the Atlantico Grupo Security Co SA is still going strong! The president is now Don Mario Sanchez and the agent is Dr Santi Martos. Might be worth another reminder from the OFT to the elderly.

A link from the OFT sight recommends that anyone who recieves an 'El Gordo' scam letter should send a copy to
Loterias y Apuestas del Estado
Legal Advice Service
c/Guzm!n el Bueno no. 137
28003 Madrid
España

This is the Spanish office who run the official El Gordo Loteria and they are using any information they get to track down the thieves

trisontana

As I reported on another thread, a couple of weeks ago a woman contacted the BBC Three Counties consumer programme with a very sad tale. For two years she has been strung along by these scammers, and has paid out £38,000 to them in the belief that she had won £600,000 on the Spanish lottery. To make things worse, she has taken out two bank-loans to pay for this, and now owes £60,000 to the banks because of interest payments. The radio station is trying to help her, but I think the only thing they can do is to try and persuade the banks to decrease those interest charges, because the money the woman has paid to the scammers is long gone.

doolar

This scam is still running. Got a letter today dated 7/1/2009. It seems I am also the lucky winner of €615,810.

It contains the delightful sentence "The GRUPO is one of the leaders in the insurance sector in Spain, with a constant growing and implantation"

It's a bit worrying that these scams can live for so long. Martin's first post on this was over 4 years ago...