Foreign lottery scams explained How to spot foreign lottery scams

How to tell if a lottery is really a scam.

The initial contact – whether it is by letter, phone or email - is unsolicited.

The source of the promotion is based overseas. It’s illegal to promote foreign lotteries in the UK but modern communication methods, such as email and mobile phones, make it difficult for police to crack down on the perpetrators.

Often you will be given a very short time to claim your prize or winnings.

Administration fee

You will be asked to send a 'processing' or 'administration' fee to obtain a prize or reward.

If there is a phone number you will need to use premium rate phone lines.

You will be asked to send money out of the country, particularly to the Netherlands or Canada, by money transfer.

Bank account details

You will be asked to hand over your credit card or bank account details.

In December 2006 Which? reported the sad case of a GP from Rotherham who was duped out of £93,000 by a bogus Spanish prize draw.

The doctor was tricked into believing he had won in the El Gordo lottery.

The con began when a letter arrived saying he had won €615,810 (around £400,000) in November 2005.

Spanish lotteries

He faxed back the release form with his bank details and was put in contact with a so called ‘bank manager’, who persuaded him to send £2,000 commission to transfer the money to the UK.

The doctor was then repeatedly duped into sending more money after the gang told him he would lose his winnings. Over an eight-month period he transferred a total of £93,000.

He said: ‘Every time I sent money it came up with different ideas. It threatened me that if I did not send money I would lose everything, until I said I couldn’t send any more.’

Thousands of people have been conned by bogus Spanish lotteries, making them the UK’s top scams.