Brexit claim was a clear case of fraud

Sir,

I recently received a letter informing me that I was a lucky winner in the International Postcode Online Lottery. ‘Congratulations, Mr Macdonald,’ it read. ‘You have won a 4th prize taxfree payout of £900,000.’

Part of me wanted to believe the news, but another part of me was more dubious . So I googled the names and addresses of the various parties mentioned in the letter, and to my pleasant surprise, they were all genuine and well-regarded companies. There was even a telephone number and a named person who I was to contact at the London address of this authentic financial services company which was handling the prize payment.

My pulse quickened. I reached for the phone, already mulling over a colour choice for the Jaguar Roadster I could now easily afford, but noticed in red letters at the bottom on my PC screen the words ‘Fraud Alert’. I read on to discover that Hampshire Police were warning the public of a financial scam involving one of the names I had googled. They strongly advised not to contact the named person who would then ask for a processing fee and never be heard from again.

Alas, my dreams of cruising along the Pacific highways in a new mimosa-yellow Jaguar convertible with a highly attractive female passenger were fast receding. Returning to dull reality, I shrugged off the lottery letter as a very disappointing but minor inconvenience in the wider scheme of things.

This attempted fraud reminded me of the many similarities between it and the Brexiteers’ June 2016 EU referendum ‘leave’ campaign. We will recall campaign leaders claiming the NHS would have an extra £350 million per week available to spend on patient care if we voted to leave the EU. This was presented as a fact by Brexiteers who were given every opportunity to spread their message in all the different media.

It was only after the referendum result was announced that we learned the £350 million extra weekly for the NHS was an undeliverable, fraudulent deception. Making a written promise to pay a sum of money in the full knowledge that you are unable to fulfill that commitment is a clear case of fraud.

Its also extraordinary and disturbing to see the very different ways in which the two sets of fraudsters referred to have been treated. The anonymous lottery fraudsters are rightly regarded as criminals who are currently being hunted by the forces of law and order. Meanwhile, the EU referendum fraudsters are feted by many as the heroes who saved us from the grasping clutches of these nasty EU foreigners.