Lottery scams - don't fall for them

I have received the following letter:

Please see what you can make out of this scam letter, apparently related to the El Gordo lottery. First they targeted my husband (about a year ago) now they turned to me ...

Imagine how many others they might tempt to fall in their trap. (Maria Caruana)

We regularly raise awareness on such scams. Unfortunately their originators take advantage of the simple fact that, out of every hundred or so scam letters they send, some people will fall for it. Moreover, they are persistent.

I must repeat that such letters should be trashed. As long as the originators of such letters do not give up, we must ignore them.

The originators of such letters will try to mislead you into believing that you have won money and it is generally millions of dollars or whatever currency. Eventually, once they see that you believe them, they will ask you to pay a fee to process your 'winnings'! When you receive such letters the golden rule is do not pay anything!

Indeed, I received such a letter and played along with them. They informed me about a big sum I had won. When it came to paying the money to "process my winnings" I told them to deduct the amount of money they were asking for, from my winnings, whereupon they dropped me like a ton of bricks. Subsequently I haven't received any further notifications about more "winnings".