U S LOTTERY

MagnumMagnum

I received a phone call today from the above saying I have won £55,000!  He asked me to phone Lynch Associates in Manchester to hire a lawyer to transfer my winnings from the US bank to the UK.  Lynch said obviously they would charge me for the service and I should pay them £200 via ‘PaySafe’ card which I could purchase from any supermarket.  I have googled the two companies and they are registered on line but I am still dubious?  Can you please advise me before I purchase a PaySafe card.  Thank you for your help.  MagnumMagnum.

coyrls

Stop!!!!!! Of course you haven't won the US lottery, you didn't even enter it.

MovingForwards

It screams of scam, why do you think it would be legitimate?

mooneysaver

You don't need to use a paysafe card:
https://www.powerball.com/faqs
You just have to contact the powerball head office (look on the link for the contact details). Make sure you check the expiry date on the back of your ticket, as you need to claim your prize within 90 days. Please note you will also have to claim your prize in the jurisdiction (state) where you purchased your ticket.

Username999

Classic scam.

MovingForwards

Even in their FAQs it discusses scams:

https://www.powerball.com/faqs

MagnumMagnum

Mmm!  I thought it sounded like a scam but there’s always that element of doubt/hope in your mind!  Thanks again guys!

Sailtheworld

It's a bit of a rubbish scam. 

As the potential victim happily sets off for the supermarket to buy their paysafe card they must congratulate themselves on entering the US Lottery and then think 'oh hang on'.

Too much time between hook and cash extraction.

doe808

Yeah, its almost like some scammers just dont put in the effort these days.

Aretnap

As a general rule, when you win the lottery someone gives you money. If you had to give someone money when you won the lottery, it would lose its appeal quite quickly. 
As another general rule, you don't win the lottery unless you have entered it. It takes a fair amount of effort for a British resident to enter the US lottery, so if you had entered it, you would probably remember doing so.

EthicsGradient

If the phone number you used for Lynch Associates was genuine, and not just given to you by the scammer who phoned you, then contact the police to report them as fraudulent.
After looking up "Lynch Associates", it sounds like the scam gives you the number to call - this scam is at least 3 years old - from an online scam discussion page:
"had a phone call from this number saying that I had won £125.000 pounds but asking for my passport number and driving licence number which I did not give to them so they gave me a telephone number of lynch solicitors and asked me to ring them i them contacted virgin media who said this was a system generated number and that it was a scam to get your details DO NOT RING BLOCK THE NUMBER THE NUMBER THE FIRST NUMBER WAS 00131 588880329 AND THE NUMBER OF LYNCH SOLICITORS WAS 02032891555 DO NOT RETURN ANY CALLS TO THEESE NUMBERS

"