Pembrokeshire County Council's trading standards team is warning residents about a Spanish lottery scam. Several local people have recently received letters claiming they have won a prize in a Spanish Lottery sweepstake. The letters have come as a surprise to the recipients as they had not purchased tickets! The letters, which originate in Madrid and bear Euro stamps, ask the recipient to send their bank details and other personal information. They also state that the lottery organisers will take a 'commission'. Nigel Watts, trading standards manager with Pembrokeshire County Council, said that every day people throughout the country fall victim to a scam of one kind or another. "If you receive an unexpected prize draw or lottery win, and it seems too good to be true, then it probably is. The best advice is to treat it as other junk mail and consign it to the bin," he said. The trading standards team has also received a spate of complaints concerning 'spam' emails, often originating in Nigeria, China and Kenya, requesting that the recipient sends money or bank details in order to assist in a business opportunity or invest in an apparent money making scheme. Other scam emails, often originating from Spain or Portugal, indicate that the recipient may be entitled to receive money from a distant relative, who has died without leaving a will. These scams are designed to either directly induce the recipient to send money in order to process the transaction, or may simply be a means of obtaining personal and banking details by deception. Again the best advice is to delete such emails, and never reply.
