Milford man warns of lottery scam

3:54pm Tuesday 29th May 2007

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A Milford Haven granddad is warning others not to fall for a lottery scam after he was nearly sucked in himself.

George Roach, 68, from the Mount Estate received a letter last week telling him that he had won a share of eight million euro on the Spanish lottery.

The letter said that he would share his winnings with ten other people and, after the agents had taken their 5% legality fee, he would be the winner of 400,000 euro.

Mr Roach was sceptical but at the same time thought that just maybe his luck was in.

"I rang Spain and said 'I just don't believe this'" said Mr Roach.

"But the man I spoke to said 'Mr Roach I can assure you this is genuine'"

He referred the Milford Haven youth worker to the letter he had received, saying it was a promotion for the lottery.

"The letter was published on upmarket paper and there was a form to fill in," added Mr Roach.

"I told them that I was not going to give them my bank details. The man I spoke to said that he didn't want my bank details just a copy of my passport or driving licence. It sounded quite plausible."

Luckily Mr Roach discussed it with his daughter and granddaughter who warned him that it was probably a scam and found similar stories on the internet.

Mr Roach was worried that the call to Spain may have been charged at premium rates but when he rang his phone company he found out that the call had only cost £2.

"There is a million to one shot that it is genuine," he told the Western Telegraph. "But it is very very plausible.

"I wanted to make it public to prevent other from getting hooked in. I think it is a form of identity theft. Once they have your identity they can probably get into your bank and take what they want."

Pembrokeshire County Council's trading standards office warned people to be extremely wary in these circumstances.

"Every day, people throughout the UK are falling victim to a scam of one kind or another, " said Nigel Watts trading standards manager.

"If you receive an unexpected prize draw or lottery win, and it seems too good to be true, then it probably is.

"The best advice is to treat it as other junk mail and consign it to the bin".