Lotto scam
Six-figure prize turned out to be scam
A Burnside pensioner is warning others to be vigilant after he was targeted in a lottery scam.
Bill Dunlop, 73, thought he had hit the jackpot when he received a letter from Postcode Lottery Europe telling him he had won £425,000.
But it turned out to be a con.
A Burnside pensioner is warning people to be on their guard after he was targeted in a lottery scam.
Bill Dunlop, 73, thought he had hit the jackpot when he received a letter from Postcode Lottery Europe, telling him he had won £425,000.
But he phoned the number on the letter and discovered it was cruel con when he was told he would need to cough up £1999 in “insurance”.
Bill, of Drumsagard Road, refused to hand over any cash and he is hoping others will learn from his lucky escape.
He said: “At first I thought ‘oh great’ but the more I thought about it, I realised it was a scam.
“There was a number on the letter so I phoned it and they asked me to pay money as insurance.
“I just said, ‘well, I can tell you now the letter does not mention anything like that’.
“Eventually I told him to send a cheque or a banker’s draft and I would write them a cheque.”
Bill’s suspicions were confirmed when he found out his sister, who lives in Shettleston, had received a similar letter from the same company.
He reported the scam to police and the official People’s Postcode Lottery.
A spokeswoman for People’s Postcode Lottery said: “We are aware that sometimes illegitimate individuals and organisations will attempt to use our lottery’s brand to gain access to information or details supplied by unsuspecting members of the public.
“People’s Postcode Lottery takes such matters very seriously.
“If you receive one of these letters, phone calls, SMS messages or emails, then we strongly advise the public to treat these communications as scams and they should be ignored.
“Legitimate lotteries, such as People’s Postcode Lottery, will not under any circumstances request a payment in order to receive a prize.
“If you are at all suspicious then contact our customer service team on 0808 1098765.
“Thankfully incidences where the public is affected by an illegal lottery using the People’s Postcode Lottery brand are rare but we would encourage anyone who has encountered a scam to report it to the national fraud reporting centre at www.actionfraud.police.uk.
The more I thought about it, I realised it was a scam