WARNING do not be fooled by this?

Question

I know this is to ask questions & this will cost me points, but I just want to warn people aboput a scam. here in Egypt people are getting a very authentic looking letter from THE BRITISH BANK. There is no such bank, this letter is telling them they have won 2 million + stirling on the lottery. It goes on to ask for 99 pounds stirling for admin & says that it does not need their bank details at this time, but that they will be needed at a later date. This letter gives phone numbers & fax numbers & has titled people as patrons. I don't know if it is circulated in other countries besides Egypt, but the letter is very professional & looks genuine. IT IS NOT. Please do not send them any money, you have NOT won anything. I ask people who show me the letter, 'did you enter the British Lottery' of course they say NO. I tell them you have to have a UK address & UK bank account to enter this. Please do not be fooled by this letter.

This was actually letters sent by snail mail, not email. I don't know how they got peoples addresses PLUS their phone numbers, but the letter was good quality and LOOKED genuine. no I wasn't taken in, but because it is being sent to Egyptian people, they are bringing the letter to me, being English, to ask me about it. this was why I posted here, as maybe they will move on to other developing countries after Egypt if they haven't already. thanx for all the replies.

I know many of yu think they people shouldn't be so gullable, but the people receiving this are usually very poor and English is NOT their first language, it is so easy to be taken in. the Western world has seen these scams for years and still some get pulled in. Don't judge these people as idiots, they are not. At least some have the sense to ask me about it, but how many more and in other countries are getting these and have no one to ask.

Gambleing is illegal here, there is no lottery, no bingo, no football pools, no casino, so these people don't understand what a 'lottery' is. So NO they don't realise that you have to take part to win, they see the official looking letter and can't believe their luck. Probably about 90% of them have never been outside Egypt.

alatoruk... you DO have to have a bank account if you are ABROAD and also a UK address if you want to play the National Lottery. You also have to pay with a DEBIT card NOT a credit card. This blog was about scam in EGYPT. I know you can play without a bank account if you are already in UK

Answer 1

Actually, why not collect the email addresses of all of these different scam merchants and feed them to one another? See what happens next, when the Nigerian Scam Merchants find themselves being swamped by emails guaranteeing an end to male pattern baldness, erectile dysfunction and under the counter Phentermine without prescriptions?

Answer 2

As everyone says - this is definitley a scam. Chances are it will rumble on for a long time. You will never trace the company as they will keep moving. If it sounds too good to be true then it is. Nobody should have to hand bank details out, and you should always have enetered a lottery to win it. There was an incident like this in UK not so long ago with a Spanish co named El Gordo Primitiva (not to be confused with the very genuine El Gordo). To win a lottery, you must enter it. To enter it, you must be a resident of the country where it is drawn. This has got scam written all over it.

Answer 3

WalterW, if you read the question the asker does say, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS THE BRITISH BANK, so writing to them isn't really an option. Generally, if you receive an unsolicited e mail saying you have won anything, it's a scam. I received numerous e mails telling me I could get several million dollars or pounds, the vast majority went straight into the spam folder, now I don't se spam e mails, so don't get bothered with them. I would NEVER reply as they need you to pay them some money to release the prize or funds, pay the money and you'll never see anything from them.

Answer 4

I get similar emails on a daily basis here in the states. I just ignore them and delete them. There has been so much information put out about all of these scams now that it is hard to understand how anyone could fall for them, but there are always some people that do.
It is nice of you to warn people.

Answer 5

actually you dont have to have a UK bank account to enter the UK lottery. you have to fill in a ticket which is fed into a lottery machine here in the UK ONLY and pay a pound. lose the ticket lose the chance to win. no one knows your address

Answer 6

Send an email back instructing them to deduct the administration costs out of your winnings and send the remaining amount to you by bank draft. You will not get a response. Additionally inform the police.

Answer 7

Haahah

only the gullible would fall for that, wouldnt you have to enter the lottery first to win a prize.

Answer 8

I'd contact the British Bank about it - Forward to them a copy of the e-mail you received (as an attachment, so all headers remain intact) - Banks always want to know about these scams, in order to protect their customers as well as themselves.

Answer 9

thats nice of you to warn people. However do people not think that in order to win a prize they must:

1. enter the lottery
2. have some sort of proof of that entry
3. go to a registered legitimate office to claim their prize?

People are so gullible.

Answer 10

Yeah I get tons of those types of things. I win several million a week. I hope you didn't fall fot it.