St Helens Council's Trading Standards Service is warning residents to be on
their guard about a misleading sweepstake mail drop that is being delivered across the Borough.
The letters gives residents the impression that they have won sweepstakes, either the Spanish Lottery or the European Lottery. To claim their prize the
recipient is asked to provide their bank account details, next of kin and
personal details and told that around 10% of their sweepstake winnings will be remitted to a company called Ibero. There is also a telephone number the sweepstake recipient is asked to telephone where they are advised a claims agent will process the sweepstake claim. The winners are, however, later asked to pay various fees to release their sweepstake winnings which will not transpire.
This sweepstake scam operates under the name of Euro Milliones Loteria International or La Primitiva Europea. Similar sweepstake scams are also operating under the names International de la Primitiva, Spanish Sweepstake Lottery, Highstake International Program and El-Mundo de la Primitiva.
The Office of Fair Trading has also received complaints of a similar nature
from throughout the country. St Helens Trading Standards Section warns
residents that you should not give out bank and personal details in response to
unsolicited mail, prize draws or telephone calls.
Councillor Carole Kavanagh, the Council's Executive Member for Environmental
Protection, said: "If you receive such mail drops you should not respond to the
sender and either bin the documents or forward them to the Office of Fair
Trading who are collating information with their counterpart department in
Spain."
You may forward this information to :
European Enforcement Team, Office of Fair Trading, Fleetbank House, 2 – 6
Salisbury Square, London EC4Y 8JX
Further advice regarding scams may be found on the Office of Fair Trading
website at http://www.oft.gov.uk/Consumer/Scams/default.htm
Residents concerned about maildrops may also speak with advisors at Consumer
Direct on 08454 04 05 06 or (for St Helens residents) visit Trading Standards at
Wesley House, Corporation Street, St Helens.
