European Lottery Guild - Scam?

Learning_Curve

Hi everyone,

I sent off for info for this Irish Lottery thing, and it has now arrived. It asks for money for the tickets which includes a processing fee. I was firstly a bit confused as it doesn't ask you to enter your numbers or tell you your numbers if they are pre-allocated. From what I have been able to ascertain by Googling, is that they are a ticket agent who put you into a syndicate, so that you can get entries into the Irish, German and Spanish lotteries (normally apparently you need to live in the country to enter). So this explains why you don't pick your own numbers. As they have offices all over this is how they get round non-residents being able to enter. I have a cheque written and in the envelope but something is making me hang back from posting it.

I've Googled and found that this company's name has come up in the same sentence as the word scam. However, apparently their name has been used fraudulently by other scam artists and they insist they are genuine. Their website (europeanlotteryguild.com) even has pages advising on how to avoid scams. The return address for the entry is in Liverpool, but if it's the same company, I found out via Googling that they are owned by a Canadian man who has dealings with criminal activities of all sorts and whose business partner was found dead, shot in the head. I just don't know whether other rip-off artists are using their name and tarnishing the name of a genuine company.

Other sites claim countless calls from this company (whether it's them or a clone scam) and having too much money deducted from their accounts after sending debit card details etc.

Their paperwork looks professional and genuine. But I'm just not sure. Has anyone had dealings with them?

Thanks.:undecided

LovelyLeeds

I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole. Why not just stick with the UK lottery - you'll still have that one in 14 million chance to win...
Hopefully someone will give you some good advice.

Mowgli87

Despite the post from Elisabeth, I would stear clear... smells like cowpat to me. Spend or save your money wisely rather than gambling with it, scam or not.

poppasmurf_bewdley

Keep your money in your pocket!

If it looks like a scam, smells like a scam, and you are worried that it is a scam, then in all probability it is a ........ :eek:

FraudBuster

Some information on lottery scams:

http://www.actionfraud.org.uk/fraud_protection/lottery_fraud

ILW

I thought the spanish lottery would only pay out to spanish citizens.

Former_MSE_Andrea

Hi everyone

The company's asked us to post something on its behalf. MSE doesn't endorse anything a company may say on the forum.

ELG is a private company that purchases official lottery tickets from government retailers and acts as agents for individual players from around the world. This means, for example, that if you live in the UK but want to play the Spanish Lotto or if you want to enter a syndicate, you can through ELG.

ELG does not ask people for money in order to claim their winnings. Those who want to play pay an entry fee and that’s it. ELG does not deduct taxes or commissions for any wins.

Elisabeth Moore
Customer Relations Manager, European Lottery Guild

LovelyLeeds

That's fair enough.

(I still wouldn't touch it with a BP though!)

dodger131

MSE_Andrea wrote: »

Hi everyone

The company's asked us to post something on its behalf. MSE doesn't endorse anything a company may say on the forum.

ELG is a private company that purchases official lottery tickets from government retailers and acts as agents for individual players from around the world. This means, for example, that if you live in the UK but want to play the Spanish Lotto or if you want to enter a syndicate, you can through ELG.

ELG does not ask people for money in order to claim their winnings. Those who want to play pay an entry fee and that’s it. ELG does not deduct taxes or commissions for any wins.


Elisabeth Moore
Customer Relations Manager, European Lottery Guild

Thank you Andrea i was rather worried as i had a phone call to verify a couple of things & i asked if he was from canada, which he was i was suspicious so i sought advice from my bank & they are now keeping a check on my account, but i feel now that this could be a genuine site. Having read your quote. and understand you cannot endorse any company

stephenrbp

Is ELG honest? All I can say is that my 91 year old uncle received a letter asking him to subscribe to the Irish lottery. He signed up and received a phone call from a man in Vancouver who was very friendly ( my uncle being totally alone) and managed to get him to pay £460 for lottery tickets. The debit on his bank account shows ELG and Netherlands. (ELG operates phone calls from Canada and banking in Netherlands) The debit that was taken was £4600. This was then repeated with a request for £450 followed by a debit for £4500. There was then a debit for a further £4000 which he says he didn't initiate at all. The second and third debits were by the Australian International Lottery Agency.
He has since received a series of letters containing hundreds of lottery numbers and also letters from ELG showing pictures of winners. He has also received a christmas card from his agent and a glossy book of photos of Vancouver.
The whole thing is a 100% scam. The only question is: Is ELG a totally fraudulent company or is it a totally honest company that has been cloned so that people are actually signing up for something masquerading as ELG?
I personally feel that the fact that my uncle's 'friend' is in Vancouver, and the company is operating out of the Netherlands is a fairly clear indication of the answer

blade1960

I think i have been scammed by them on 28th Jan 2012 l have emailed them asking them to refund me within 24 hours.
These people should not be allowed to get away with things like this