Be Scam Aware - Lottery / Prize Draw Scam

Central 

Bedfordshire

Scam Aware

Central Bedfordshire Council’s Trading Standards team would like to take this opportunity to remind consumers to be wary of any letters, emails or phone calls they receive informing them of a lottery or prize draw win.

We have had a report from a consumer who has received a letter from "Euro Millions Lottery International" informing that they have won a large amount of money. The letter gives the following address: "10 King William Street, London, EC4N 7TW" and states that in order to claim the prize the addressee should call the following telephone number "02033 185277" (although please note, these details may differ on different letters). In this case, the consumer did phone the number out of interest and was subsequently asked to fax specific personal and bank details. Thankfully, they decided not to.

Based on the information provided we believe this letter to be part of a scam and we would advise anyone to act with extreme caution when receiving such a letter, and emails or phone calls of a similar nature, whereby they are informing of a lottery or prize draw win.

Our advice to consumers would be that you can only win a prize if you have entered the competition. If you don't remember entering the lottery or draw, ask yourself how the sender has got your name and address - when was the last time you gave your name and address when buying a lottery ticket, for example!!!

If, at any point, you are unsure as to whether a letter is genuine, do not be afraid to throw it away. These types of scams are looking for you to make contact with the sender, so that they can either obtain personal or bank details or attempt to get you to buy a "cash voucher" or pay an admin / tax / release fee so that the prize can be "released". In reality, there is no prize waiting to be collected.

If you have any information about suspect rogue traders or would like to report a possible scam please initially contact Consumer Direct on 08454 04 05 06, in order so that all relevant regulatory authorities can be notified.

In the meantime, please visit our website www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk/bescamaware for advice and guidance on how to spot a scam and how to avoid becoming a victim.

Kind regards

Trading Standards

(Community Safety and Public Protection)