One scam currently in circulation takes the form of a letter claiming to represent the United Nations Organisation’s International Clearance on Fund Monitoring Unit. The letter says that the EuroMillions Fifa World Cup Super Lottery has sent out a winning cheque of £725,000, but this was ‘transferred without proper consultation’ of the ‘Authority of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)’.
The letter looks professional, is addressed personally and there are no demands on confidentiality or claiming prize as soon as possible, which are tactics found in traditional scams. A lot of official-sounding terms are used, with confusing jargon such as ‘contrary to Article 102 Section 36 sub section IV of the 1996 Bank and other Financial Institution Decree (BOFID)’.
One particular passage also tries to play on the emotions of the reader by mentioning a ‘Bi-lateral Agreement reached between the UN, that of the United States and the European Union after the September 11th, 2001 bombing of the World Trade Centre and London Bombing’.
The letter adds that a 1% clearance charge must be paid and concludes with an apology for any inconvenience caused, while a fake cheque for £725,000 is attached to the back of the document. Such attempts to prey on the innocent may unfortunately work some of the time, but more and more people are fighting back as they report scams and tell others to be on the lookout. Had the potential victim not taken the letter to a local bank, they might have not discovered the deception until it was too late.
It is worth remembering that it is not possible to win a prize on a EuroMillions game that you have not entered and that you will never be asked to asked to pay any sort of fee to receive winnings you are owed. To land a prize, you must have bought a ticket for the relevant EuroMillions draw and matched some or all of the numbers selected on the night. You will never be contacted by the UK National Lottery, Française des Jeux or any other official participating EuroMillions lottery if you have won a prize - it’s up to you to contact them and make a claim. Find out more on the Scams page about how to identify scams, clues on what to look for and what to do if you receive a suspicious letter, email or phone call.
As the clock ticks down to tonight’s EuroMillions draw, you will have to purchase a ticket to stand any chance of scooping a prize. There is a jackpot of £26 million (€37 million) on offer for anyone who can match all five main numbers plus both Lucky Stars, following the third rollover in a row on Friday night.
You can enter online or by visiting an authorised retailer in any of the participating countries, and it is an exciting time to play with such a big jackpot up for grabs this evening, Mega Friday scheduled for the following draw on Friday 30th October and a Superdraw taking place on Friday 6th November, with a guaranteed jackpot of €100 million (approximately £73 million). Scammers may be constantly devising new methods to try and steal people’s money, but EuroMillions is still going from strength to strength and everyone just has to remain vigilant as they carry on enjoying the game.