Littlewoods Casino - sweepstake scam

A Littlewoods Casino circular informing recipients that they have "been approved for a lump sum pay-out of £715,810 in cash..." signed by Mrs Sandra Blanco, Vice President International Littlewoods Sweepstake Lottery, has been circulating again. Here follow letters from two recipients:

We have just received the enclosed message by fax where I work.

I thought you might wish to alert consumers, through your column, that this particular scam has made a reappearance. (Marguerite Pace Bonello)

Here follows another letter about the same scam:

The enclosed circular was received by fax at my family's business outlet.

Needless to say, we have ignored the contents of the circular and the instructions therein.

As other business concerns may have also received similar circulars, we would kindly ask if you agree with the line of action (or, rather, inaction) that we have taken regarding this circular and advise other recipients accordingly. (Victor Muscat)

First of all I thank Ms Pace Bonello and Mr Muscat for sharing the information. I would say yes, I agree with Mr Muscat's line of action (or, rather, inaction). In both cases the letters supposedly are from "the desk of the Vice President, International Promotions/Prize Award Department", however the letters are not addressed specifically to any individual.

Normally when such letters are replied to, on the assumption that the individual concerned actually believes that s/he has won £715,810, one is asked to make various payments supposedly for the "processing and remitting of your prize money to a designated account of your choice". In the prevailing scenario, once one believes that one has won £715,810, one would be prepared to make the payments. In a way this scam is similar to the Nigerian one.

If anybody who was bitten is prepared to share his or her experience, we can do so without revealing the person's name. In any case, be wary of such letters. Scams have now become a major industry and we must do all we can to beat them by sharing information. In this spirit, next week I will write about other scams related to charge cards.