World Cup: Warning over football lottery scams

Fraudsters are exploiting involvement successful the shot World Cup to instrumentality radical into replying to scam lottery letters.

These mailshots incorrectly assertion to beryllium affiliated to the event, see authoritative logos, and inquire recipients for wealth to assertion a "huge" currency prize. Such rewards are ne'er seen.

National Trading Standards said a surge successful letters had coincided with erstwhile large tournaments.

Officers said they wanted the public's assistance to stitchery accusation astir scams.

They privation radical to nonstop immoderate scam message they person to trading standards implicit the adjacent month, calling the run a Scamnesty.

"By gathering a fuller representation of the scams retired there, we tin enactment a measurement up of the criminals," said Louise Baxter, caput of the National Trading Standards Scams Team.

"And arsenic good arsenic sending successful their ain scam mail, I'd promote radical to speech astir Scamnesty with older friends and relatives. They are apt to beryllium astatine the crisp extremity of the mailings truthful the quality they tin supply is crucial."

Scam message tin beryllium sent escaped of complaint to: NTSST, FREEPOST, MAIL MARSHALS.

International organised transgression gangs are often down these benignant of scams, adapting them to instrumentality vantage of a blistery taxable of the time.

At present, trading standards officers expect con-artists to usage involvement successful the shot World Cup successful Qatar, with examples including letters falsely claiming that a lottery has been organised to beforehand the tournament.

The wording whitethorn alteration but the purpose of the fraudsters is ever to instrumentality susceptible radical into sending money. The mean magnitude requested this twelvemonth successful postal scams is £48, usually successful cash, officers said. If radical responded, they would past beryllium repeatedly targeted and galore victims person mislaid thousands of pounds.

So acold this year, much than 80% of postal scam examples seen by officers person been clairvoyant scams, wherever recipients are promised much elaborate readings if they nonstop money.

Other postal scams regularly seen see fake bogus wellness cures and concern scams.

John Herriman, main enforcement astatine the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI), said: "Trading Standards professionals witnesser the devastating effects of scam message time successful and time out. The criminals down these letters prey connected the astir susceptible successful our society, and astatine this clip of twelvemonth those that consciousness isolated and lonely are much inclined to respond to scam message arriving retired of the blue.

"Our pb officers person witnessed horrific cases whereby victims person mislaid implicit £100,000 to scam mail. It is simply a unspeakable rhythm that immoderate find it hard to get retired of arsenic the scammers often befriend their victims to physique a level of trust."

However, location visits by officers person managed to forestall immoderate susceptible radical falling unfortunate to scams, and immoderate wealth has been returned.

Earlier this year, it was announced that 3,500 UK victims of an planetary scam were to beryllium refunded a stock of £530,000 aft a landmark lawsuit and 4 years of investigation.

Fraudsters successful the US tricked aged and sick radical into paying upfront fees for guaranteed currency prizes that were ne'er paid.

More details of however to recognise a scam and wherever to nonstop examples are outlined connected the Friends Against Scams website, tally by National Trading Standards.