OFT warns of prize draw scam

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OFT warns of prize draw scam

Mon 27th Oct 2008

A prize draw scam targeting elderly people has been uncovered by the City of Westminster Trading Standards Service and the police.

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) warns that some victims have been tricked into becoming "money mules", laundering the money of other victims.

At least 22 victims are known and in one case, when a victim died, the fraudsters targeted her widower.

In total, at least £350,000 has been lost.

Elderly people were telephoned and told they had won an international prize draw worth as much as £500,000.

They were asked to pay "refundable" taxes and fees to a scammer in Canada and more to "agents" in the UK once the prize was said to have arrived.

In fact they were sending money to other UK victims who were then duped into transferring the money to Canada.

The OFT said that genuine lotteries never require any payment before releasing prizes.

Anyone who is contacted by a dubious sweepstake should call Consumer Direct on 08454 04 05 06.

Meanwhile, the Times reports that Irish rogue traders are on the run in Australia, believed to have breached their visas by selling sub-standard electrical equipment.

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