Lottery Scam Reaches N.D. Sen. Conrad

Dec 18, 2003, 3:55 am (Post a comment)

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The letter looked official, but Sen. Kent Conrad thought the offer was fishy: wire $700 to Germany, then $715,810 in Spanish lottery winnings was his.

The North Dakota Democrat even had an "agent" willing to talk him through -- or into -- the deal.

"I'm going to go right home and tell my wife," Conrad told the man who claimed to be an international lottery official. "This is going to make a very merry Christmas in the Conrad household."

Conrad was one of the latest targets of a mail scam that has run for three years and hit about 2,000 people in the United States, 800 of whom had been fooled into sending money, said Roberto Santamarta, the assistant home affairs attache at the Spanish Embassy.

Spanish authorities figure more than $1 million has been stolen through the scheme.

Conrad received the Dec. 5 letter at his North Dakota address. Recognizing a scam, he said Wednesday that he was nonetheless impressed by how official the multicolored "International Lotto Commission" letter appeared.

"This is pretty well done," he said. "You can see that people would be taken in by this."

Conrad reported the letter to the embassy, the FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

But he also called the international number to find out how the scam worked.

The money was his in three days, the helpful agent explained, as soon as Conrad copied and sent his passport's first page and wired the "handling fee" to Berlin.

Conrad said he wondered why the Spanish lottery was being paid out from Germany.

"We're all one now in Europe," the agent replied.

Santamarta said investigators think the con artists use cell phones registered in Spain to answer calls while roaming Europe. More than 200 people in five criminal groups have been arrested in connection to the scam, although it and the investigation continue, he said.

LA Times

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