Locals fleeced by bogus Spanish lotto
Posted Wed, 05 Mar 2003
A crime syndicate pretending to be a Spanish lottery is fleecing South Africans
of large amounts of money, the Spanish embassy in Pretoria said on Wednesday.
Spokesperson Pedro Ruiz told Sapa the embassy had received an increasing number
of calls from people who said they received e-mails or faxes to inform them
that they had won large amounts in a so-called Spanish lottery.
The amounts typically came to about R20-million, said Ruiz.
The receivers were then informed that they should send a certain amount,
usually less than one percent of the prize, to cover taxes or commissions.
Their winnings would be forwarded when this amount had been received.
He said some people had sent the money.
The syndicate insisted on money orders, which meant the payment could not be
traced. The sender never heard from the so-called lottery again.
Ruiz said embassy staff had called some of the cellphone numbers provided in
the emails from the bogus lottery, but the people who answered could not speak
Spanish. When they realised that it was the embassy calling, they hung up.
He said the cellphone numbers were never the same.
Lotteries and pools in Spain were all under government control and participants
had to physically buy tickets at designated points, Ruiz said. It was not
possible to participate over the internet or by tickets by other remote means.
He appealed to those who received faxes or emails pretending to come from a
Spanish lottery to ignore the matter and above all not to send any money.
Sapa
back to news
© Yellow Sky Investments
Tel: +27 82 822 1626 Fax: +27 (12) 643 0937
Email: info@clublottery.co.za
ClubLottery.co.za
is not affiliated to the South African National Lottery or Uthingo.
[
Sitemap ]