Red Alert: Staying Safe from the Spanish Lottery Scam
Spanish Lottery Scam stands out from the crowd
Now that the lottery is a universal venture and players from any continent can take part in competitions held in different parts of the world, the number of scam attempts has increased. Among the many lottery scams emanating from organizations and lone wrongdoers, the Spanish lottery scam is one that stands out from the crowd. The reason it is so popular has a lot to do with the fact that the genuine Spanish lottery is the one awarding some of the largest prizes in the world.
How does the Spanish lottery scam work
Before learning how to protect yourself from any scam attempts, it is vital to learn how it works and which are the ways in which the cyber criminals try to deceive their victims. A very popular action is to send letters addressed to individuals in different countries, informing them about the big lottery win and encouraging them to claim their prizes. Those who resort to this relatively slow method of conveying the deceitful message, instruct their victims to call a phone number and pass over personal information.
A reassuring voice confirms the fact that the person making the phone call is indeed a lottery winner and kindly asks him to pay some fees in advance. The initial amount can be smaller or larger, but those who are hooked are bombarded with more requests so that the total amounts grow exponentially. The Spanish lottery scam is also conducted online, and the names that pop out more often are El Gordo and La Primitiva. These are genuine lotteries that are worth millions every week, so if people look them up online will surely stumble upon the original websites.
How to stay safe from scam attempts
One of the easiest way of not becoming the victim of these wrongdoers, is to know that the Spanish lottery doesn’t sell or ship winning ticket beyond borders. The only way of cashing in on a prize awarded by either El Gordo and La Primitiva is by presenting the winning ticket, and no payments are made straight into the winner’s bank account. By simply knowing these two things, most of the recipients will immediately throw away the bogus letters and the more conscious of them with report it.
Among the easiest steps that one can follow to stay on the safe side is to ignore the letter, and never disclose any personal information regardless of what instructions you are presented with. The authorities are in many cases powerless to assist in the retrieval of the money, and it is the responsibility of individuals to settle the issue. The bottom line is that those who lie to themselves and ignore the obvious, risk losing a lot of money, while having little or no means to retrieve anything.
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