Lucent Tours scam

oliviacooper

Hi, I've just received a holiday brochure from a Malaysian company called Lucent Tours. In it were 2 scratch cards to celebrate their 10th anniversary. One was a loser, the other 2nd prize of 130,000 US $. I googled for the firm, and couldn't come up with anything relating to a scam, but it does have a reasonably decent holiday website.

So, refusing to call their international number, I e-mailed the details over, and got a nice call from someone called James Lee. He requested that I scan the ticket and e-mail to confirm it was valid. Convinced that if it seems too good to be true, it probably is, I continued searching the internet, and turned up an old scam in Australia under the name of EverMas Tourism Group, under which Lucent Tours used to trade.

Apparently they ask for your personal information and an upfront payment to process the prize. I haven't got to that stage but thought it was worth highlighting as I'm sure other people will have received these brochures too, and an initial internet search for Lucent Tours doesn't really help. I just hope this helps to prevent anyone getting scammed.

Freddie_Snowbits

My friends in Nigeria would like you to take your holiday there, on your way there, could you pop into my private deposit box and take the rings with you.

I am sorry, but unless you entered the competition, I am afraid you have won as much as Freddie. Constraints refrain me from being blunt, but down at the Dog and Duck, we could use your raffle tickets to light the coals.

My normal reposne would be, seeing as you know my address, then you know where to send the money.

Oh and WELCOME to MSE

Oh and the official answer. I would not touch it with a BARGE POLE

jdarmstr

oliviacooper wrote: »

Hi, I've just received a holiday brochure from a Malaysian company called Lucent Tours. In it were 2 scratch cards to celebrate their 10th anniversary. One was a loser, the other 2nd prize of 130,000 US $. I googled for the firm, and couldn't come up with anything relating to a scam, but it does have a reasonably decent holiday website.

So, refusing to call their international number, I e-mailed the details over, and got a nice call from someone called James Lee. He requested that I scan the ticket and e-mail to confirm it was valid. Convinced that if it seems too good to be true, it probably is, I continued searching the internet, and turned up an old scam in Australia under the name of EverMas Tourism Group, under which Lucent Tours used to trade.

Apparently they ask for your personal information and an upfront payment to process the prize. I haven't got to that stage but thought it was worth highlighting as I'm sure other people will have received these brochures too, and an initial internet search for Lucent Tours doesn't really help. I just hope this helps to prevent anyone getting scammed.

Thanks for this. I had the identical letter and two scratch cards. I emailed them and was told I should phone -haven't done so as I wanted to check prices of phone calls. But they have put a lot of money and effort into this scam -glossy leaflet, scratch cards, 'Lucent Tours' website etc. Their website was also making me suspicious -they claim to be a major tour company but there's very little information about tours. Also their name doesn't appear on the Malaysian Tourist Authority's list of about 1000 agents.

samjw19

Hi
I too recieved the brochure and scratchcards from Lucent Tours, thank for confirming my suspisions. The closing date is 30th Feb 2011 which rang a few alarm bells!!! I too emailed the company, to be told I should ring their office in Kuala Lumpur. Needless to say, I did not.

Hope nobody has been caught out by this scam.

CHeers

Oopsadaisy

Only a dimwit of immense thickness would fall for a scam involving the following words...Malaysia, scratch card, winner, personal details, upfront fee.

Moneysaver2

My mum also received this scam - and surprise surprise she also apparently won the 2nd prize of 130,000 usd.

By my count, thats 3 people on this thread that have won the 2nd prize and the brochure says there are only 2 second prizes - that says it all really.

I too found the scam by the evermas tourism group - it's exactly the same as this one - steer well clear!!!

zimzimmer

I too got the 2nd prize - i was mildy impressed by the stamps and post mark from malaysia, but that's as far as my interest lasted. Obvious scam, but one of the better ones. I don't give my address to that many companies, but I'm 99% sure it was Sky who have sold my details! (other things have led me to believe that) thanks zz

fedupwithscams

I just received my 2 scratch tickets and I've won $150K USD by wait for it TOVAR TRAVEL. After some research they also won the same wards as Lucent Tours. Even their websites are exactly the same even with the same wording. I haven't rang them to give them any details, nor did I email. Instead I reported the scam to the ACCC

AlanL1945

I've just received my 2 scratch tickets from TOVAR TRAVEL and won second prize of $150K USD. Their glossy brochure is eye catching though the grammatical errors are a giveaway. The letter was addressed to my weekender which means they could only have taken the address from a phone book. The address used an old postcode which was changed a couple of years ago. There is no other way they could have found the address.

trumpton

I am rather disappointed as I don't appear to have won this competition. Sounds like a phone call/deposit scam - the t and c's will be so ridiculous that you won't bother collecting your 'prize' - they just want you to ring and chat for 5 minutes and then find it has cost you £30 or pay your non-refundable deposit.

Thanks, OP. This thread comes up third on google if you search for Lucent Tours.

Bombwonder

Well I too received two scratchies from Tovar Travel and won USD $150000 on one of them. I was impressed with the glossy brochure and immediately looked up Tovar Travel and found their website. I contacted them by phone and spoke with Janice Lim who asked me to scan and email the scratchie, which I did. From here Janice contacted me on numerous occassions and after sending the tickets to the IT department, advised me that I was the rightful winner. I was then asked for my Customer number which of course I did not have. Janice then checked with their major sponsor Financial Trustee Association (HK) and then informed me that the ticket was intended for a client only and that they would only pay a client. Janice told me that they would be having a conference call with the sponsor where they would attempt to convince them that I was the winner and should get the $$$. Janice called me to say that after much debate the sponsor had agreed to pay me. I was to call HK two days later and speak with the sponsor. I did this and this is when they hit me with the "we need you to pay $3750" in order for the funds to be released. I will admit that up until this point I was sucked in (they are very convincing and I don't consider myself lacking in common sense but I guess I had a lapse in judgement) but as soon as it was mentioned that I needed to pay money I knew it was a scam. Hopefully this will prevent someone else dreaming about ways to spend the money!