Important Warning: Bogus "Spanish Lottery"

(February 18, Colombo, Seri Lanka Guardian) Sri Lanka Mission in Paris has informed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sri Lanka, that a fraudulent Lottery racket under the name of popular "Spanish Lottery" is widely spreading in South Asia, including Sri Lanka.

“Loterías y Apuestas de Estado (LAE) would like to inform the general public that a number of groups of criminals, of various nationalities, are using the prestige and the commercial names of the Spanish Lottery by fraudulent means in several countries, particularly in countries in the south-west of Asia and the Pacific, and countries on the American continent. They move with ease around the whole world and use mobile telephones, PO boxes, provisional or false addresses (including real addresses of official Spanish organisations), as well as names that bring to mind prestigious institutions ("el Gordo", la Primitiva", "European Lottery Commission", etc.) They also forge the printed sheets and signatures of various banks.”, according to an unofficial statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Colombo.

“In order to carry out the fraud, the procedure that is generally followed consists of informing the potential victim that they have been the lucky winner of a substantial prize (even if they have not participated in any draw), although they cannot collect this prize until they have paid an amount going towards the taxes, bank costs, delivery costs or insurance processing, etc. Usually, the fraudster warns their potential victim that the deadline to pay these charges is very soon and that their right to collect the prize is about to expire. Spanish Lottery prizes are always free of taxes, and the Spanish Police has already arrested and subjected to legal procedures some of the members of groups who were operating from Spain. Therefore, when you are offered "prizes" that seem to be linked to the Spanish Lottery, Do Not Pay any amount. Likewise, we would be grateful if you could inform local authorities of these crimes,” the statement has warned.