Prize Draws and Lotteries

This type of mail advises that you have won a large sum of money on a lottery of competition.

The letter will appear to be very official and will often have grand company names.

The letter often asks you to call a premium rate number. This to pay an administration / processing free to claim your prize. The fee requested can be any value, buy on average is around £35-£40. Calls often last 15 to 20 minutes, costing around £1.50 per minute. This all means you could lose between £55 and £70 from one letter alone.

You will never get the winning. They will send another letter advising there has been a problem. Leading into paying another fee. This process will go on indefinitely and you will never get the promised winnings.

The mail will appear very personal. This is due to technology adding your name into the letter on multiple occasions. Trying to look more genuine and personal.

On some occasions the mail will be pretend to be a genuine lottery. For example, some scams claim to be 'People's Post Code Lottery'. Be extra cautious if you play a genuine lottery. If you did win, it's best to contact the lottery directly. Most genuine lotteries have a website where you can check if you won.

Typical Examples (non exhaustive list):

• Taylor and Kenneth Associates

• Finkelstein & Partner

• W4A

• Collins & Associates

• Anderson & Company

• Incentive Award Centre

• International Payment Committee

• Financial Transfer Institute

• Winner Club

• The Prize Service

• Award Mail Offices

• Transatlantic Centre for Payment of Prizes

• World Lotto

• Awards Express

• Fortune Cash and Travel Prizes

• Buchmuller & Co

• European Winners Club

• Award Notification Commission

• Prudential Incentive Awards

• El Gordo Spanish Lottery

• International Prize Advisors

• The European Lottery Syndicate

• Lottery Millionaires

• Australian Lottery Agents

• Scammers purporting to be the Peoples Post Code Lottery