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Spanish lotto warning

by Tom Rowley
9/ 4/2008

A GLOSSOP accountant is warning folk not to be conned by letters from Spain claiming they have won a fortune in a lottery.

Samantha Tootell says her family have all received letters with a Malaga postmark.

Samantha, of Primrose Crescent, said a friend almost fell for the con, too.

"As per the letter she phoned a Spanish number and was told that they had been entered into the lottery via an airline ticket purchased," she said."The person in Spain she spoke to did not know what ticket or flight this was from, but as she often flies abroad this could have been plausible.

"She was told they had won about 600,000 euros and that the clearing agent in Spain needed her bank details in order to arrange transfer of funds to her bank account. At this point she was told that for identification purposes she had to fax a copy of passport over to Spain.

"She was also told that once they had received passport information and proof of ID in Spain, all the money would be deposited into an ‘agents’ holding bank for clearance. Once the money was in that agent’s bank, she would have to transfer £60,000 to the agent for local fees and release of payment.At this point the money would then be transferred into their bank.She was also told not to inform anyone of the win until the money had gone into their bank to prevent ‘fraudulent’ people attempting to claim to win!"

It was only when she asked Samantha’s father to photocopy her passport that he warned her off the scam and rang her bank to inform them.

"Luckily, nothing further has come of this at the moment, but I feel the local community need to be made aware of this," she said.