As luck would have it!

Ever opened an e-mail or a letter and found out you had won a huge sum of money?

The first reaction would probably be disbelief followed by doubts especially if you had not participated in any lottery. Many thoughts cross one's mind for a moment not wanting to discard the possibility that luck has indeed struck. But the best and most sensible thing to do when confronted by such e-mails and letters is to ignore them because they are scams.

They are one way to lure people to believe they have really struck gold and then rip them off their money.

Letters informing recipients about huge wins in a lottery continue to flow in through e-mail and, more recently, by post.

The pattern is the same - similar to that received by a Birkirkara reader last week. A letter informed him he had won €585,510 in the La Primitiva Spanish Sweepstakes International Lottery Programme, held on November 12. In this case the scam is timed to coincide with the genuine Spanish lottery which offers very generous wins.

The scam letter was supposedly sent by the Spanish state lottery Loterias y Apuestas del Estado. It advises the addressee to keep the award from public notice until claims have been processed. The addressee is also told to fill a form to appoint a claims' agent. At this stage no mention is made of any payment to retrieve the fictitious sum supposedly won in the lottery.

A google search reveals quite a number of stories about people who received the "good news", mainly ignoring them as scam but others falling for the trick.

The scam has become so widespread Loterias y Apuestas de Estado was forced to issue an international fraud warning.

LAE explained that groups of criminals, of various nationalities, were using the prestige and the commercial names of the Spanish lottery by fraudulent means in several countries.

"They move with ease around the whole world and use mobile telephones, PO boxes, provisional or false addresses, including real addresses of official Spanish organisations, as well as names that bring to mind prestigious institutions like 'el Gordo', 'la Primitiva', 'European Lottery Commission', etc." They also forge the printed sheets and signatures of various banks, LAE said.

The procedure that is generally followed consists of informing the potential victim that he was the lucky winner of a substantial prize. However, in order to collect the prize, winners are advised they have to pay money to cover taxes, bank costs, delivery costs or insurance processing, etc. Usually, the fraudster warns their potential victim that the deadline to pay such charges is round the corner and that their right to collect the prize is about to expire, LAE said.

LAE added that Spanish lottery prizes are always free of taxes and the Spanish police have already arrested and subjected to legal procedures some of the members of groups who were operating from Spain.

"When you are offered 'prizes' that seem to be linked to the Spanish lottery, do not pay any amount. Likewise, we would be grateful if you could inform the local authorities of such crimes," LAE warned.

"I've got to admit, I actually fell for it. I had never heard of these lottery scams before," a potential victim picked on internet recalled.

"As soon as I got the letter and read it I thought, Wow! I'm 21 and I can buy a house and a brand new car and have a great start on life.

"I of course called my boyfriend at work and told him right away that I had won $615,810!

"He didn't believe it until we talked to our claim agent, Miguel Sanchez, who told us that the money was ours 100 per cent and that we wouldn't have to pay a dime.

"We then faxed over the form with the details requested and he told us that our money would be transferred within 48 hours. We waited about a week and when I called him up his explanation was that their policy had changed and that we had to pay 1.5 per cent of the prize money before he could transfer (the prize money) to my account.

"I knew right at that moment that it was a scam. I cried, but got over it eventually.

"I changed my bank account but I'm scared at what they're going to do with my personal information."

Another website narrates amusing e-mail correspondence which towards the end degenerates into foul language.

The correspondence is between a "winner" of the lottery Jay Taylor (JT - not his real name) with a certain Oscar Martinez (OM) claiming to be from the security agency. JT had realised it was a scam but wanted take the fraudsters for a ride.

JT - I have attached the requested form. Please send me my money.

OM - Your completed form has been received. You are required to pay a nominal fee of $650, payable to the lottery company, for authentication and registration. We cannot deduct the money from your winning because it is already insured in your name. Get back to us on how to pay this fee.

JT -Thank you for your quick reply. I have a proposition on the payment of the processing fee. If you pay this fee on my behalf, I will pay you 10 per cent of my prize money. That way, neither of us is at risk. If you do not wish to handle the fee this way, I would like to pay by credit card, that way, if something goes awry, I can have the charge cancelled.

OM - Dear sir, you do not have any problem about your money at all because it is well secured and insured in your own name. If you want to pay this fee by credit card then pay it through Western Union money transfer via credit card. Make this transfer to own name, Oscar Martinez, and the city you are sending the money to is Madrid, Spain. After send to me the 10 digit money transfer control number. You do not have any problem at all. I assure you. As soon as this is done, authorisation will be made to transfer your money into your designated bank account and the transfer slip will be faxed to you.

JT - I cannot believe someone would turn down a chance for 10 per cent of $600,000 for advancing a measly $600. It would be a good faith effort on your part and a chance to make $60,000. If I worked for a large, international lottery agency like yourself, I would be offering this service to everyone that won and would retire in a very short time.

I also find it interesting that a large, international lottery agency could only accept funds via Western Union. Do you have a web page where I can pay with my credit card on a secure server? I'm afraid if a credit card is used to send money via Western Union there is no recourse to recover the funds since it is considered a cash advance. Again, please reconsider my proposal to advance the $600 fee for me so you can make your $60,000.

OM - Dear sir, this is our company policy. Pay the fee as you have been instructed to do and your funds will be transferred. This 10 per cent that belongs to us will be remitted after you have received your winnings in your account because the money is insured in your name. You can come and work for us and retire as soon as possible if you feel so.

JT - Exactly how does a person get a job in the scam business? Is there a school, or is it just learned by experience? Do you ever feel guilty at all or have you conditioned your conscious in such a way that you actually justify what you do? Have you ever had a real job where you actually do some work for a business and they pay you according to your work load/responsibilities? Do you make enough scamming people to buy your family what they need? Do you think people are actually dumb enough to send $600 via Western Union to an individual that is going to give them $600,000? How can I win a lottery that I didn't even enter? I've read a lot about these scams but you may be the stupidest criminal yet.

The rest is not suitable for printing!