The time is now 8:39 pm
You last visited
April 26, 2024, 3:34 pm
All times shown are
Eastern Time (GMT-5:00)
Feb 7, 2007, 12:45 pm (3 comments)
Spanish police have arrested 43 Africans on suspicion of running a fraud ring in which people were duped into paying money as a handling charge to collect fake lottery winnings.
(Editor's note: See http://www.usamega.com/lottery-scams.asp for a description of this type of lottery scam.)
Authorities estimate the men — 42 Nigerians and one Senegalese — bilked people out of more than €2 million (US$2.6 million) altogether. They were arrested Tuesday in Seville, and another five Nigerians were arrested for being in Spain illegally, the Interior Ministry said.
The scam involved sending e-mails to people living abroad and telling them they had won a large amount of money in the Spanish National Lottery as part of a sweepstakes promotion overseas.
The suspects would then ask victims to send their bank details, in order to be paid their prize money, but would first demand a cash payment of €3,000 (US$4,000) as a processing fee.
The fake lotteries operated under the trade names of La Primitiva, International Lotto Commission and Bonus7p International Lotto.
Lottery Post Staff
It was time...I am sick and tired of receiving scam lotto mails from Nigeria and South Africa..It has been said that in Nigeria they are full of Scams...
Not trying to be insensitive or anything, but....
It's really sad that there are people walking around who fall for this scam. I just can't imagine the thought process that allows them to think this is a good idea.
They should arrest the fake lottery people. But they should also arrest the victims, give them a stern talkin' to and explain to them that the next time they do something stupid like this we will charge them for the resources it takes to protect them from their own stupidity. Then we can release them back into society.
It's about time they caught someone, how many years has it been? Why does the state always wait until they have thousands of victims and the scammers have perfected their trade before taking action. Every day people are getting on the internet for the first time, these scams seem like legitimate oppertunities the first time you see them. Some are so good even commercial businesses and banks are fooled by the checks. The Florida Attorney General just realeased a notice auction losers on ebay are being offered a second chance to buy (as if the winner failed to pay) with a link to a fake copy of the page. They pay and the item never comes. BobP