The Spanish Lottery Scam
Photo by: Alvy
You can’t be unfamiliar with the Spanish Lottery Scam if you have spent any time living in Europe. Wherever you dwell here, the scam is sure to pop out of your mailbox or email inbox post haste, giving tidings of your having won a sweepstake contest, even if you never remember having entered one.
The letter bursts forth the news that hundreds and thousands of pounds are yours for the taking. The prize is part of a total of some 13 million euros split between twenty or so winners who are also, at this very moment, being contacted.
The letters claim to be coming from major Spanish lotteries. Names of popular lotteries, especially the official Spanish lottery El Gordo, are unflinchingly used by the fraudsters to lend credibility to their present preoccupation. They are least bothered if you are aware that most Spanish lotteries are only for Spanish residents to participate. For every informed you, there would be hundreds of others who are innocent to such trivialities.
The scam lets you in that your winnings are in the safekeeping of a security company. To claim the money, you would be required to do either or both of two things: send some money in advance or give away some personal information.
The amount asked for, would seem a trifling as compared to the sum tantalizingly within reach. But the thing is, if you pay up the first time around, be sure that you’d be asked for more.
Personal information is solicited by way of a “Claims Form” accompanying the letter. Saying it needs the details to transfer the prize money into your account, the scam asks for such info as your name, address, account number, and debit or credit card number. It also asks you details regarding next of kin, should you not be there (ahem) when the money is ready for disbursal.
For all its affectations, the scam is still easily believable for some, thanks to hard work on the fraudsters’ part. Painstakingly, they remember to feature your full name and address on the envelope. Displaying an eye for detail, they also care to get a Spanish postmark on the envelopes.
Government data reveal the elderly are prime targets for these scams. Being alone and barely in touch with the world makes it easy for them to be overwhelmed with the scam.
There is an easy way for nipping such scams in the bud. Postal authorities could prevent the scam from having any victims by refusing to deliver the letters and seizing them. Wonder what stops them from doing so…
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