Pensioner fooled into parting with £24k by lottery conmen

Published on Tuesday 24 June 2008 10:23

A PENSIONER targeted by foreign fraudsters has lost £24,000 of savings after being tricked in a lottery scam.

The 77-year-old, from Portobello, was persuaded to send away the cash after being told he had won 1 million on the Canadian lottery.

The pensioner was left distraught after realising he had been duped by the con artists and contacted police.

Two more elderly victims from Piershill and Craigentinny also fell for the scheme and handed over thousands of pounds before the alarm was raised.

Fraudsters send out hundreds of thousands of mailshots worldwide, telling recipients they have won a massive prize. Anyone who falls for the scam and sends away a 20 administration fee is then contacted via phone by the criminals, who use a variety of personas to draw in their victims and gain their trust.

But the Portobello victim, who first sent away money in January, was eventually threatened with court action by the gang if he failed to wire more cash to a bank account in Canada.

After telling the fraudsters he could not pay up 28,000, which they claimed had to be paid this week, the gang offered him a deal to send 10,000 instead with the rest being subtracted from his "winnings".

However, the pensioner finally summoned up the courage to contact police who are now investigating the fraud.

Pc Willie Rennie said: "The man received a letter through the post which said he'd won a big prize and needed to send off 20 to claim it.

"They then started to phone him, pretending to be from a variety of offices like the Inland Revenue. He was convinced to send off more amounts, ranging from the high hundreds to low thousands.

"They were threatening to sue him as well if he failed to pay up. They were using intimidating tactics. He is obviously very upset now and feels foolish that he was taken in."

Detective Inspector Jim Gilchrist, of the Lothian and Borders specialist fraud unit, said such scams were an "ongoing problem".

He said: "They just send out thousands of mailshots and hope that a few people are taken in.

"Lots of companies sell databases of information with people's names and addresses. They then take a scatter-gun approach.

"In terms of investigations there is often little we can do. The money is often moved around different countries and bank accounts and it quickly becomes 'lost'.

"We report incidents to the Serious and Organised Crime Agency, who are in contact with international police forces. But we would advise anyone receiving these types of letters where money is asked for to discard them."

Councillor Ewan Aitken was made aware of the latest scams after the three residents from his ward were cheated out of their savings.

He said: "It's disgusting that these criminals are stealing money with false promises. It's particularly sickening that these were elderly people who perhaps wanted to leave something for their children, and the exact opposite happened.

"I would encourage anyone who receives one of these letters, that if it looks too good to be true then it is."