Spanish Lottery Scam
WARNING: Beware of the "Spanish Lottery Scheme"
The Embassy of Spain wants to alert the general public about a lottery scheme currently used by organized gangs to trick US citizens into giving them money using the false pretense of a fictitious prize award from the prestigious Spanish National Lottery.
These gangs use various procedures to attain their goal. The most common pattern consists of notifying the victim that he/she has won a significant lottery prize and that in order to receive this prize the presumed winner must first send the notifying company or his agent a certain sum of money to satisfy transfer, processing or insurance fees, taxes etc. The victim is frequently advised that he/she has a short time to send the money before his/her right to claim the prize expires. Addresses in Spain and contact fax/phone numbers are provided to the victim. The addresses are often temporary and the telephone numbers belong to short-term cellular phones usually beginning with the area code 011-34-6 ...
If you have received one of these letters, you may be a victim of this scheme. Be cautious and do not send any money or you risk losing it. In fact, under Spanish law it is illegal to sell Spanish National Lottery tickets outside Spain's borders and carrying these lottery tickets outside of Spain is considered smuggling. Furthermore, Spanish lottery tickets legally sold in Spain are not subject to taxes or any other charges such us those claimed by these individuals.
HELP THE POLICE
The Spanish Police has already arrested and charged several members of various criminal gangs dedicated to the activities here described. DO NOT PAY ANY MONEY. Send a letter or a fax to the Embassy of Spain (fax # 202-530-0509). Relate to us as much information as possible about your case so we can forward it to the Spanish Police, which will aid their ongoing investigation. If you suspect that a US citizen may be involved in this type of scheme please report the case to your local FBI office.