10:00am Tuesday 26th December 2006
A HUNGARIAN couple who flew to London thinking they had hit the jackpot almost lost their life savings in a lottery scam.
Balazs Lukacs, 25, and his girlfriend Tenia, 30, had flown to London to collect the promised prize of £292,717 in the bogus UK National Lottery Sweepstake.
But they were told by the gang of con artists they first had to hand over £9,000 in stamp duty, tax and other fees.
The plot was only foiled when Mr Lukacs contacted police after becoming suspicious of the crooks' demands for cash-only payment.
Speaking exclusively to the Ealing Times, he said: "At first I was very happy. I could not imagine that amount of money. I replied to the email telling me I had won and after a few more emails it seemed real and I started to organise my trip."
Mr Lukacs, a former security guard at Heathrow airport, was told to hand over a signed Lloyds Bank transfer form with full account details and copies of his passport and international driver's licence.
They also said they would take him to a hotel where he could sign the paperwork and hand over the money.
He said: "I had checked on the national lottery website and the six numbers they said I had were the same but they wanted money in advance and only cash, which was strange to me."
Mr Lukacs had entered an online lottery in Hungary and been convinced by official-looking emails, documents and contact numbers.
The couple, who were staying in Acton, sought advice from police before their planned meeting with the fake lottery reps at Heathrow airport.
Mr Lukacs said: "I had spoken to them on the phone but before I was going to meet these guys I checked with the lottery again and they said they never send emails with the exact winning prize. I was very disappointed."
Trading standards consumer legal advisor Ranjan Parmar, who met with the couple, said: "This was an extremely intricate and complex scam and Mr Lukacs had significant supporting paperwork from the bogus lottery organisation.
"I advised them not to part with their money and alert their bank immediately. They were disappointed but very grateful for saving them from losing so much money."
The trip ended up costing £500 but Mr Lukacs added: "It could have been a lot worse. If I had lost £9,000 it would really have hit my family hard, especially before Christmas."
In October a West Ealing resident almost fell victim to a Spanish lottery scam. He had received a bogus letter from Loteria Primitiva, announcing he had won 415,810 euros and requesting personal details.
In both cases, the crooks asked the win be kept "confidential for security reasons".
Cllr Will Brooks, responsible for trading standards, said: "The genuine UK National Lottery would never ask winners to pay a handling fee to collect their prize, and they would never ask them to disclose personal information.
We are urging residents to be wary, seek advice, and remember that if something appears too good to be true, it usually is."
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paul Mangan, says...
5:00pm Wed 17 Jan 07
London, 17 JAN 2007
Reference: Winner,
Recently the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY contacted you regarding your new Prize winnings. This is confirming receipt of your correspondence and assuring you that in line with our principles of efficiency, transparency and customer satisfaction, you shall be treated with the best possible service within the abilities of this office and in line with company policies.
Note that all participants in this lottery program have been selected randomly through a computer ballot system drawn from over 50,000 companies and 70,000,000 individual email addresses from all search engines and websites. The email addresses were compiled together by newly developed computer software designed by Microsoft Inc to extract as many emails needed.
This promotional program takes place every year, and it's proudly promoted and sponsored by eminent personalities which includes Sultan of Brunei, bill gates of Microsoft Inc and other corporate organizations. This is to encourage the use of the Internet and computers worldwide.
Therefore You have been confirmed as a winner of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY, computer balloting lottery system draws 2007 with the following detail to have emerged you one of the lucky winner,
Ref: UK/9420X2/68
Batch: 074/05/ZY369
Ticket number: 56475600545 188
WINNING NUMER: 02-18-31-38-39-46-{42}.
Your claims file has been duly forwarded to my office with specific instructions that our department shall be handling the processing of your prize of £850,000GBP, to you.
1. You are required to fill a VERIFICATION FORM with all necessary details to process your winnings. Please see below the manual Form. Kindly send to us the detailed information below for due processing of your winnings as email attachment for due processing.
VERIFICATION AND FUND RELEASE FORM
1. FULL NAMES:_________________________________
2. ADDRESS:_____________________________________________
____________________________________________
3. SEX:_______________
4. AGE:________
5. MARITAL STATUS:___________________
6. OCCUPATION:________________________
7. E-MAIL ADDRESS:_____________________________
8. TELEPHONE NUMBER:_____________________
9. BATCH NUMBER:____________________ B. REF NUMBER:______________
10. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF COMPANY/INDIVIDUAL___________
11. AMOUNT WON:___________________________________
12. COUNTRY________________________________
Finally, there are two options open for you to choose the most convenient for you to receive your winnings (tick by putting yes on the most convenient for you) .
1, Telegraphic Bank transfer into any account of your choice anywhere in the world.
2, Mailing a certified cashers bond check to your home address which will be stated above through an insured courier company.
DECLARATION:
I, ____________, HEREBY DECLARE THAT I HAVE NEVER RECIEVED ANY SETTLEMENT FROM THE NATIONAL LOTTERY PROGRAM OR ANY MEMBER OF MY FAMILY FILLEDCLAIM ON MY BEHALF TO FREE LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL ROMOTION. I THEREFORE AUTHORIZE, THE NATIONAL LOTTERY PROGRAM TO ACT ON MY BEHALF IN THE PROCESSING AND SEND MY PRIZE AS INSTRUCTED BY ME.
SIGNATURE :( TYPE IN YOUR NAMES): ________________________________
DATE: ________________________
Attached to this e-mail contains Important information( Privacy Statement, and the United Kingdom Lottery Terms and Conditions) about your winnings, you are required to print out and fill all the information immediately and send to us either fax or as e-mail attachment. This will enable us file in your claims in the amount of £850,000 (EIGHT HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND, POUNDS STERLING).
Congratulation once again and hope to received the verification form as soon as possible.
Warm Regards,
MR Mark Alan
LONDON.
Email: claims_agent_104@yahoo.co.uk
Tel phone: +44 701 115 2916 ,+44 701 114 7806
Fax Number: +44 709 288 5436
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