Don't be fooled by lottery scams.(News)

Winning the lottery tops most people's wish-list, which is why fraudsters continue to strike it lucky with their international lottery scam.

If your e-mail address appears on a website, chances are your inbox has had its fair share of attention from "419" scam artists.

The lottery scams are not always sent by fraudsters based in Nigeria or London - often they're right here in South Africa, such as those behind the recent "South Africa 2010 World Cup Bid Lottery".

Once the recipient responds, the fraudsters reel them in with more talk of all the lovely loot they're going to get, and then ask them for an advance fee. Only when this fee is paid will they get their money.

Most people simply delete the e-mails. Others want desperately to believe it's their lucky day, but they check with someone, a consumer journalist for example, before responding.

"I think this might be a scam," they begin, "but just in case it's not ..."

Occasionally the fraudsters get lucky, and some starry-eyed soul falls for their fabricated story. But the victims seldom speak up out of embarrassment at falling for the scam.

Charlene A of Durban was willing to tell me her story, on condition I didn't reveal her surname, because, as she put it, "we can't face my husband's family over this". Believing they had indeed won the equivalent of R7 million in a sweepstakes lottery conducted on the Internet, they paid the fraudsters a total of about R80 000 in three deposits last year before they realised they'd been had.

I'm telling her story as a warning to those who may be tempted to suspend common sense at the thought of a large, unexpected windfall.

It began with an e-mail which Charlene - who works as a PA in a telecommunications company. She received it on January 19 last year. She was told she'd won big in the "Loteria Primitiva" and instructed to contact a Fred Lunga for information on how to claim her winnings.

Charlene then called this Lunga fellow, who put her on to a supposedly London-based "lawyer" by the name of Peter Becks who claimed to have helped many South Africans claim their unexpected prizes.

He asked her to pay his legal fee of [pounds sterling]850 (about R11 780) and a "government levy" of [pounds sterling]475 via money gram to "David Hunt" of London, which she did, on January 31.

This must have delighted the fraudsters, who set about tapping Charlene for as much money as they could. Next, "Becks" asked her to pay [pounds sterling]3 500 to "Halis National Bank Foreign Exchange Department" in London, for a clearance certificate to release her funds.

She paid this amount on February 10. At this point the fraudsters fine-tuned their con. They told Charlene her winnings had been transferred to "Bond Trust Finance" and she was given a contact name - Derek Aston of the Isle of Man - plus an e-mail address, a pin number and account number, enabling her to view "her funds" in this bank account.

Ah, but before this account could be "activated", Charlene was told, she had to make a cash deposit of another [pounds sterling]3 500, which would be refunded after her money was transferred to South Africa.

Again, she followed instructions, getting further into debt for the sake of that phantom lottery prize.

But when she tried to transfer her "winnings" to her South African account, Charlene had no luck.

That's when "Bond Trust Finance" told her she had to pay another [pounds sterling]3 500 for a "Money and Drug Laundering Certificate" from the UK government before her funds could be released. At this point Charlene refused, as she'd been told after her last payment that she wouldn't have to pay any more money in order to get her hands on her winnings. And that's when Peter Becks suddenly cut Charlene off, avoiding her calls and e-mails.

She has since reported the matter to her local police station, and her case has been referred to Interpol - the fraudsters are believed to be based in London.

I asked Charlene if she still had some hope of getting her money back.

"Yes, of course," she said.

"If I got just some of that R80 000 back, I'd be happy."

So why did she fall for the scam?

"Well, it was the first lottery e-mail I'd got, and the requests for money made sense at the time - as a South African, it seemed feasible that I'd have to pay certain fees to get the money over here."

The experience put a severe strain on her marriage, she says, as she and her husband blamed each other.

Her advice to others? "Don't even open those e-mails. Delete immediately!"

l They tell you your e-mail was randomly picked in some kind of international e-mail sweepstakes, but genuine lotteries do not use e-mail to notify winners.

l The e-mail is addressed to "none" and begins "Dear Winner", which tells you that the same e-mail was sent to thousands of others - a highly unlikely scenario for a real lottery win notification.

l The e-mail tells you to contact an address different to that of the sender.

l You are asked not to tell anyone about your big win until you've received your money.

l Do a Google search for the name of the lottery, the "claims agent" or his or her company. The search results will no doubt mention the words "fake", "fraud", "scam" or "419".

l The moment you are asked to pay money before getting what you are supposedly due, disengage. Genuine lotteries do not require winners to pay any fees or taxes before receiving their winnings.

l You are not the 999 999th visitor to a site, and you are not going to get a prize!

l Consumer Watch is published twice weekly. E-mail consumer@ knowler. co.za