Lottery Scams

With the dream of landing a Lotto jackpot so close to our hearts, it isn't surprising that a handful of unscrupulous con men are doing their best to cash in on that dream illegally. Over the past few years a number of trusting individuals have had their life savings scammed out of them by people posing as foreign lottery officials.

The two scams that are doing the most damage right now claim to involve the Canadian and Spanish lotteries. In the majority of cases, the potential victim is initially contacted by mail with a letter saying that they have won a substantial lottery prize and will be contacted by officials in the near future to help them process their claim. The phone call comes a few days later from a very polite and official sounding "administrator" who explains that the prize is ready to be transferred. All the "winner" has to do is pay a release fee and the cash will be with them promptly.

Although the idea of any legal lottery charging a "release fee" to transfer winnings is preposterous, the scam works because it specifically targets the most vulnerable and trusting members of society - our pensioners. As a result, innocent victims across the nation have handed substantial sums over to the scam operators in the belief that they would be putting an end to their money worries once and for all.

• An 80 year old Powys resident lost a total of £11,000 by putting her trust in two separate scam operators posing as officials from the Canadian and Spanish lotteries. The Spanish scam went so far as to forge the official El Gordo lottery in order to appear as convincing as possible.

• In Leeds, a retired couple were conned to the cost of £20,00 because they were informed that they had won a Euro Millions jackpot worth €650,000. As a result, they have now had to remortgage their home in order to pay off debts.

There are dozens more cases like these and despite police stepping up efforts to prevent them, new scams are springing up on a monthly basis using e-mails, the telephone and postal services to contact potential victims directly.

Our best advice to avoid getting scammed is to remember that no genuine lottery organisation will ever request a penny from you in order to release prize money. So, if you can't remember entering any lottery that you are told you have won, beware. Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is…