Reports indicate that victims are contacted via telephone before being informed that they have progressed to the second stage of a fictitious ‘People’s Postcode Lottery’ competition that the victim has supposedly entered via Facebook.
The scammer then goes on to provide a convincing, in depth explanation of the People’s Postcode Lottery, highlighting the many ways in which a player can win and the tempting prizes on offer. Following this, the victim is persuaded to set up a direct debit in order to buy lottery tickets regularly with ease. At this point, the victim may be sufficiently convinced to disclose personal information such as address and bank details leaving them open to costly identity theft.
One victim, who wished to remain anonymous, said; “They told me I was through to the second round in a Facebook competition. I didn’t think I’d entered one at first but the woman was very convincing so I believed her.”
A member of the WorldLottery.net team, who was also contacted by the scammers, said “They knew what they were doing. I’m familiar with scams but they had such an impressive knowledge about the Postcode Lottery it’s easy to see why someone would be convinced.”
Our team member received the call at approximately 17.30GMT on Wednesday evening from the number 0141 567 6380. We received no answer when we attempted to call the number back but a representative from the genuine People’s Postcode Lottery said; “It certainly wasn’t a call from ourselves” and provided their official contact number which is 0808 109 8765.
WorldLottery.net would like to remind our readers to take extra care when divulging sensitive information. Lottery scams are increasingly common and players must remain vigilant in order to avoid falling victim to malicious trickery.
Written by Lottie McDonald
