Fake lottery scam warning
The Office of Fair Trading is warning people to be careful of emails, telephone calls and letters that claim the recipient has won the lottery.
Scammers, often posing as legitimate lottery operators such as the Spanish El Gordo or the UK National Lottery falsely tell people they have won a significant amount of money in a lottery sweepstake.
They then ask for payment of 'administration fees' or personal details to confirm their identity in order to get their winnings.
This opens the recipient up to identity fraud as well as losing the money supposedly needed to cover the fees.
According to the OFT, one in three people have been received such scam correspondence and 140,000 adults fall for it each year.
Fake lottery scams cost the public around 260m pounds a year, the OFT said.
However, only six per cent of those who have received the fraudulent emails actually reported them to the OFT or the police.
The warning comes as organisations such as Help The Aged and Co-operative Financial Services launch a campaign to alert the public to these scammers.
The OFT is also offering tips and advice on how to spot lottery scams.
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