Spanish Lottery Scam

[ZWarrior]

First I will post a message I recieved in my email about this scam.

Today's focus:  Spanish-bull fight

By M. E. Kabay

The e-mail message announced breathlessly that I had won a
lottery in Spain called "El Gordo."

"Esther Lodwig," the "Promotions Director" of "Global Stakes
Lottery International" wrote that a specific ticket number
attached to my name had won me 2.5 million euros. The letter
went on to explain that I should call a phone number in the
Netherlands (odd, that, no?) to claim my prize.

Now it happens that I have never bought a lottery ticket in my
life; I've contributed to charitable lotteries by contributing
the price of the ticket but refusing to take it (just one of
those weird habits of mine). All my friends know this about me,
so it wouldn't make sense for anyone to enter me into a lottery.

In addition, it's illegal for a U.S. resident to participate in
a foreign lottery. For more information, see U.S. Code Title 18,
Section 1301:
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/1301.html

So in the U.S., even if you did win a foreign lottery it would
be illegal to collect on it - punishable by fines or
imprisonment, or both.

A quick bit of investigation on Google reveals that this scam
has been circulating for about a year. I've listed a number of
good resources about it in the Related Links section below, but
the essentials are as follows:

* Criminals (most of them outside Spain) are circulating bogus
  claims all over the world that (presumably many) potential
  victims have won lots of money in the Spanish El Gordo
  (sometimes misspelled "El Godo") state lottery.

* If the victim calls the phone numbers listed in the e-mail or
  postal mail messages, they are invariably told that they have to
  supply a tiny fraction of their "winnings" as a tax (or for some
  other bogus fee).

* Anyone who actually falls for the ploy and sends money is
  asked for yet more, and then more and more, until they wise up;
  some victims have sent many thousands of dollars.

* Some poor souls have supplied the criminals with details of
  their bank accounts and other private information, allowing
  their names to be used in identity-theft schemes.

So OLÉ! Let's fight this, ah, Spanish bull by posting a note in
our corporate newsletters.


Here is a link to the real Spanish Lottery and what they have to say:
http://www.elgordo.com/serv/scamsen.asp

[Edited on 10-15-2003 by ZWarrior]