Indian community in Leicester targeted by lottery scammers

LONDON A woman approaches you, says she has won millions of pounds in lottery but cannot claim it because she is an illegal immigrant without identity papers, will give you the winning ticket if you pay £50,000. Would you part with the cash? Many did, as the police in Leicester say.

The town has a large population of Indians. The community is often targeted by ‘babas’ and ‘tantriks’ promising luck, lucre and love in return for cash, but the latest ploy has surprised many, prompting the police to launch a poster campaign.

Posters in Gujarati, Gurmukhi and English have been printed and distributed across the town, alerting the public to what is called ‘high-value fraud’. So far, victims have parted with nearly £200,000 for ‘winning’ lottery tickets that proved worthless.

“Since April last year, we have had more than 25 reports of victims being approached in the street by individuals claiming they had won the lottery and because they were illegal immigrants, without a passport or valid identification, they were unable to claim the winnings,” the Leicestershire police said.

The police say suspects are men and women. The most recent incident took place on May 18.

The suspects drove the victim to a bank, where he withdrew a substantial amount of cash. The cash was handed over to the suspects, who also used the victim’s mobile phone during the incident and never returned it.

Catherine Thompson of Leicestershire police said despite previous appeals and warnings about such scams, people were still falling victim: “Our enquiries have identified that the vast majority of victims are elderly people, who may not speak or read English.”

“As a result, we will be distributing leaflets and posters, which have been translated into Punjabi and Gujarati.”

CATHERINE THOMPSON OF LEICESTERSHIRE POLICE SAID DESPITE PREVIOUS APPEALS AND WARNINGS ABOUT SUCH SCAMS, PEOPLE WERE STILL FALLING VICTIM