El Gordo de la Primitiva Lottery International Promotions Programmes
I won another lottery! I’ve actually stopped counting, and I don’t publish every congratulation email I get, since very many of them are clones of eachother, only sent to my different puplicly available email addresses. But this one is special. It is very explicit, and even came with a registration form, official looking, with a fake waterstamp and complete with barcode and all. (There’s a link to it at the bottom of this page.)
It’s just another scam of course. And published here to help others to see that it is, before they start sending in registration fees to the scammers.
Here goes. The notification that I won the El Gordo de la Primitiva. (I’m so rich!)
From: donmarlop@yahoo.com
Subject: AWARD NOTIFICATION FINAL NOTICE
Date: February 17, 2005 18.01.12 MET
To: [a publicly posted address]@lindqvist.com
Reply-to: santaluciaseguro@netscape.net
Apartado de Correos 529
17/02/05
28085, Madrid-ESPAÑA.
TEL: 0034 6 /3016 5561
REF: EUS/0207859035/03
BATCH: 27/4424/AIPC
ATTENTION: BENEFICIARYEL GORDO DE LA PRIMITIVA AWARD NOTIFICATION FINAL NOTICE
We are pleased to inform you of the release of the EL GORDO DE LA PRIMITIVA LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS PROGRAMMES held on the 20TH DEC, 2004.
Your name was entered as a dependent client with REFERENCE Nº: EUS/0207859035/03 and BATCH Nº: 27/4424/IPC. Should there be any discrepancy in your name and address, please contact ESTRELLA SEGUROS S.A.Your name attached to ticket number:0016-359142-07 with serial number:52201-61drew the lucky winning numbers : 14-26-27-40-42-48. Which subsequently, won the lottery in the second category. You have therefore been approved for a winning payment of €960,000.00 (NINE HUNDRED AND SIXTY THOUSAND, EUROS In cash credited to file claims number: FGL/2002365214/MD/03. This is from a total cash prize of Euros 17,368,770.00 (SEVENTEEN MILLION, THREE HUNDRED AND SIXTY EIGHT THOUSAND, SEVEN HUNDRED AND SEVENTY EUROS ) Shared among seventeen international winners in this category. Congratulations!!!Your fund is now deposited with a security company insured to your name. Due to mixed up of some numbers and names, we ask that you keep this award from public notice until your claim has been processed and your money remitted to your nominated account as this is a part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming or unwarranted taking advantage of this program by participant
All participants were selected through a computer ballot system and sponsored by MAPFRE MARKETING S.L. drawn from 25,000 (TWENTY FIVE THOUSAND), names from Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and North America as part of our international promotions programme which we conduct once every year. We hope that with a part of your prize you will take part in our end of year high stake €1.3 billion international lottery.
To begin your claim, please contact: ABERLADO LUCAS Foreign Operations Manager of ESTRELLA SEGUROS S.A on TEL:+34-635 047 975,&FAX:+34-635 248-142. processing and remittance of your prize money to a designated account of your choice. Remember that all prize money must be claimed not later than 30TH FEB, 2005. After this date all funds will return to the MINISTERIO DE ECONOMIC Y HACIENDA as unclaimed.
CLAIM´S REQUIREMENT:PHOTOCOPY OF IDENTITY&TAX CLEARANCE CERTIFICATE.
NOTE:In order to avoid unnecessary delay and complication if there is any changes of your address, please do inform your claims agent, please remember to quote your reference number and batch number at every of your correspondence with us or your claims agent. And we hope that you will participate in our end of year high stake award. Enclose with this is a prize claim processing form.
Congratulations once again and thank you for been a part of our international promotions programme.
NOTE: Contact your claim agent during working hour from 8AM to 9PM SPANISH TIME.Sincerely,
MARIA LOPEZ
PRIZE CLAIM TRACK. (VICEPRESIDENT):………………
Nº: 9540772140
Enclosed was a Word-document, complete with barcode and all, very official looking, and you might download it here (if you aren’t afraid of unscanned word docs that is).
Added May 22, 2007: Groupama Insurances now has a notice on their site stating that “these [email messages] are not genuine letters and anyone receiving such correspondence should not respond or provide the personal details requested”. The notice is posted since Groupama Insurance’s Spanish subsidary Groupama Seguros is mentioned in several flavours of the El Gordo Primitiva lottery scams. Groupama Insurances also urges any recepients of these emails or letters to them immediately via customer.service@groupama.co.uk and send the original letter to:
Stephen Teeling
Technical Claims Controller
1 Port Way
Port Solent
Portsmouth
Hampshire
PO6 4TY
That’s some good advice. It’s when the big corporations get involved, we have a chance to really do anything about these scammers.
January 25th, 2007 at 12:00 am
[…] me and Nikke’s Index with a Spanish lottery scam setup (probably the Loterie Nationale, El Gordo de la Primitiva Lottery International or any of their […]
January 30th, 2007 at 7:41 pm
Georg Pétur submitted a very similar scam which I published in a seperate post:
The Holland Casino Lotto Promo Int
February 1st, 2007 at 4:23 pm
Hello…I received the exact letter a couple of days ago. I thought of checking the internet before any further action and I’m glad I found this website. Thank you for showing this info to the public, it’s very helpful.
February 1st, 2007 at 11:22 pm
Thank you so much for this site! I have received a letter earlier very much alike with the letter in your site that I won in a lottery. The letter was well-done right? It seemed to be credible and was well-written. I hope everyone would read this and find this page so they can avoid that stupid and fraud people!
February 2nd, 2007 at 6:15 pm
Hy I received one of this letters tittled LA PRIMITIVA and is asking me to keep it a secret, beacouse of their so called “security protocol”
Im taking this to some wachdog or organization
February 8th, 2007 at 10:13 pm
Hey, I got one too. But I ONLY won $800K, bummer.
How did I get on THIS list?
February 9th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
My name is Pamela and I am disabled (I have no arms and my right leg is shorter than the left . I am from Sout Africa. For so long I have suffered because im poor. When I received this letter from Euromilliones Lottery I thought that finally something great had happened to me. I was so happy. Now I would be able to afford a medical Aid, I could live in a house I could call my own and fulfill a lifelong dream to buy a car that is specially designed for poeple like me who use their feet tgo do everything with my feet.This was my hope of a better future for myself because I do not have the finances to cover all my medical costs and to further my studies.I want to be a lawyer. As per usual my dreams were crushed and I was disappointed yet again. So many people have made promises of financial assistance and a whole lot of othet things to me and just never happened. I saw this as a great gift in my life .What a dissapontintment again.I wish I could put this man in jail so that he does not do this to people like me. I thought that my life would change for the better instead, it’s gettin worse and worse everyday thanks to people who use El Gordo Lottery to make people like me happy and then rip your heart out and that tiny piece of hope that life will get better fades , like your dreams into thin air.
Pamela Gower
[phone numer and e-mail address removed by admin]
February 9th, 2007 at 2:25 pm
Pamela,
That’s so sad to read. And it is because of people like you I keep this site up.
As humans, we want to beleive in other people. We want to think good of others, and when good things seem to happen to us, we want them to be true.
I do really hope that the people behind the El Gordo Lottery will get caught in some way, but I’m sad to say that I really can’t see how it would happen.
// Nikke
February 9th, 2007 at 7:03 pm
Sir,
I received a letter from International Lotto
Commission, in which i came to know that i won
a lump sum prize money of euros 315,810:00
from LA PRIMITIVA LOTTERY PROMOTOINS
PROGRAM held on 22nd day of january 2007.
I was asked to contact my agent for settlement of
my claims on the contact no. mentioned in the
letter. My agent said me to fill the Release Order
Form{FORM BVB} which i received along with
the letter. After i faxed my FORM BVB, my agent
is saying to deposit euros 575 and 20 cents to his
bank account as the transfer charges that will be
charged by the bank for transfering my winning
amount.
Now i just want to know about the authenticity
of the letter i received and also the bank charges
i have to pay as said by my agent for transfer of
prize money.
Please reply to my query as soon as possible.
Thanking you.
Yours faithfully,
Md.Rizwan Nezam.
February 10th, 2007 at 12:20 am
As you can see here, so many people have received the same, or almost the same letter as you.
Try telling the agent that they can deduct the bank chanrges from your winnings.
Your letter is just a scam, just as our letters where.
February 13th, 2007 at 9:23 am
I have also received a similar letter where the agent is asking to pay around 575 Euros (as insurance nod coverage for the fund) and has given details of the Bank A/C, Bk name, address, Swift code , etc where it is supposed to be deposited. The agent has also called & mailed me for the same. I this a fraud.
Is there any offcial phone nos of La Primitiva Lottery to verify.
Has anyone ever got mney deposited in his/her account
February 15th, 2007 at 11:34 pm
HI EVERYONE I GOT A LETTER FROM SPAIN A FEW DAYS AGO DIDNT PAY MUCH ATTEBTION TO IT THEN RECIEVED ANOTHER LETTER SO I RANG UP FOR A LAUGH I WAS TOLD I WON 785510 EUROS I WAS LIKE GREAT GIMMIE THE MONEY THE PERSON ON THE PHONE THEN SAID TO ME THAT I WOULD HAVE TO MAKE A PAYMENT OF 2 GRAND TO GET THE MONEY I TOLD HIM ON YA BIKE MATE THEN HE SAID WHY DONT YOU COME TO SPAIN WITH THE MONEY AND YOU CAN TAKE YOUR WINNINGS HOME WITH YOU THIS HAS TO BE TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE ????????
February 15th, 2007 at 11:35 pm
DOES ANY1 KNOW HOW TO VERIFY IF IT IS TRUE OR NOT???
February 16th, 2007 at 7:34 am
Wll Kammy, if something seems to be too good to be true, it often is.
February 17th, 2007 at 2:45 am
I received the same kind of letter today exactly the same wording like the document above ….even the lottery number are the same. Expect the signed name …Dr.Antonio Gomez
February 19th, 2007 at 7:03 am
hi my name is ella and i recieved the same letter that other people are getting which was from el gordo de la primitiva lottery which said that i had one more than $16 million dollars and i had thought that my dreams had come true, but when my dear son looked it up on the interent i couldnt believe that alot of people had got the smae letter as i had and im very very disapointed and make me feel like going up to those stupid people and throwing them bahind bars forever I CANT BELIEVE THIS WAS A STUPID STUPID SCAM!!
WARNING IF THEY SEND YOU A LETTER LIKE THIS PLEASE DO NOT EXCEPT IT BECAUSE THEY RAE TRYING TO TEAR YOUR LIVES APART!
THANK YOU VERY MUCH AND WATCH OUT YOU STUPID PEOPLE!
February 22nd, 2007 at 8:20 pm
je viens de reçevoir la même lettre mon gains était de 615810€ j’ai fallit y croire mais avec toutes les mission sur les harnaques j’me suis dit s’en est peut être une j’ai vu sur le net et Dieu merci j’ai trouver se site pour ne pas yomber dans ce salle cout
March 5th, 2007 at 11:46 pm
I wish to thank Nikke’s Index for confirming my immediate belief that a letter I received from Loteria Primitiva was an elaborate scam. People who create such deceptions will eventually be caught and made to pay for their sad attitude towards their fellowmen.
March 7th, 2007 at 4:14 pm
What a scam is right. I received a letter yesterday almost identical. To start with how could we possibly win that kind of money in a country I do not live in, or have not visited in a few years. I was delighted to find your site with so much information about it. I was wondering is this legal? Can anything be done to pursue these people. What about all those people who do not have access to the internet or who would be gullable to believe it. I know all of us would love it was true. Anyway thank you Nikke’s.
March 7th, 2007 at 10:53 pm
It isn’t legal in any country that I know of.
Actually, I tried talking to the Swedish police about the Gotenborg SMS Lottery and the Nordic Lottery (both with clear Swedish connections) today. And when taking this to the police you face a few problems.
1. Where was the crime commited?
2. What precinct should handle it?
3. What if the scammers are actually situated in another country? What can the local Swedish police do?
4. What if most of the victims are from yet another country?
In most of these cases, the scammers are situated in a third world country (such as Nigeria), the victims are from another country than the one that might have a lottery company whose name is used for the scam, and (as is the case with the Gotemborg and Nordic SMS lotteries, most of the victims don’t really know enough English to see throuh the scam, or even communicate with the scammers…
I’ll keep you posted on the progress on my communication with the police in a seperate post.
March 10th, 2007 at 11:49 am
I just got one of these letters too - it might’ve worked if I’d ever entered the El Gordo lottery ;o)
I am wondering how they got my name and address, mind. I did recently attend a trade show in Barcelona, where I was giving business cards to people, but still it seems puzzling.
March 10th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
Are you in any online cataloges?
Does your website state your name and address?
Remember. The scam doesn’t have to originate in Spain just because they are using a Spanish lottery as bait.
March 12th, 2007 at 8:50 pm
I have recieved a simillar letter, but it is an AWARD NOTIFICATION informing me that I have been approved a lump sum payment of 615,810.00 euros from a total cash prize of 9.237.150.00 euros.
Most of the wording is the same but the claims agent is different, a DR. JUAN SANCHEZ.
I have another letter accompanying this which is a payment processing form (P.P.F) asking if I want to be paid by a) Bank Transfer or b) Bank Cheque, asking for my bank details.
This is all well and good but there is two problems: 1) I have never played this lottery, 2) Why do they need my bank details when they already have my address to send the cheque to?
A Scam if ever I saw one!
PS If you want a copy of the bank details letter I can scan & e-mail it to you.
March 20th, 2007 at 2:21 pm
I have just received exactly the same letters as John above. Same amounts and same man in Spain, who I phoned up and said I was very suspicious but he said it was all genuine and to send back the forms.
Thank God for this web site.
Thanks Nick.
March 20th, 2007 at 3:56 pm
Am I the luckiest man in the whole world! Just received notification from mr mariano xavier maria managing director, international promotions/prize award dept, that i won the el gordo de la primitiva lottery. With my name printed on a blank enevelope and with spanish stamp mark from murcia, i was already thinking how to compose my last words to my boss to s.. off.
But like John, how come i have won a lottery which to my knowledge i didn’t even know that it existed? and is it a breach of the European Data Protection Act?
Thanks for this site to share our comments and hope that these culprits pay a high price when brought to justice.
March 21st, 2007 at 2:27 am
I am so glad I looked this up!!! I can see how some people thought this was true. Luckily I have just gotten the letter and will not be going any further.
They said I had won 315,810.00 euros which worked out to be about 600,000.00 New Zealand and I was starting to calculate how much financial freedom I was going to have. My letter was from Don.Alfredo Rodriguez and my contact person was Don.Luis Fernando and it was sent from Spain (according to the postage stamps on the envelope). Like I said I’m so glad I looked this up. THANK YOU. These guys really suck and I hope one day soon they get caught, because this whole thing is very cruel.
March 23rd, 2007 at 2:19 pm
I must say this got me going when I saw the spanish stamp etc but the first thing that came to my mind was send me the cheque you got my name and address.I knew when I continued to read this letter that it was fake I then looked this up on the internet and I found you lot..very clever thank god people turn to the net for advice.
March 23rd, 2007 at 10:54 pm
I jus received the letter from Int. Lotto Commission …
saying that i jus won 615 euros. What a scam and falsebeing to be .. people beware this is nothing but another SCAM !!
March 26th, 2007 at 1:38 am
I’m so pleased that I checked on Loteria Primitiva. I can’t believe what I have read from other people! My mom received exactly the same wording letter that she has won 634,338.29 euros and she has been jumping for joy. She feels that this is God send. She has already filled in the payment form and faxed it to them as she was told in their letter. I’ glad that I decided to check on this tonight. I’m shocked but my mom will be more shocked if I tell her what I have learnt on the net about this so called international lottery promoters.
Thank you very much .
Tina.
March 27th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
hi folks
i recieved same letter today 27/03/2007 and like every one i thought this is my lucky day, how ever i do know you cant win anything if you dont enter these various competitions and so i did know i could not have won but being greedy i thought i would check it out on internet. its a shame that people get caught out with these scams and its good we can view sites like this to check it out.
the letter i recieved was from el-gordo primitiva lottery s.l and the return address is madrid, spain and signed don carlos antonio, the same letter as everyone else and written on cheap printing paper, so please be aware of this scam and email everyone you know as i am going to do
thank you
alex from the uk
March 29th, 2007 at 4:42 am
Hi,
I also received the same letter as all the others and nearly the same wordings.
I sent form by fax. They send me back fax of same that money in Banco Unicaja, whether there is such a bank, I dont know. After reading through your website, now I know that it is a scam. Fortunately Ive never divulge it to other people. Now I will. If ever it was a scam, my message to the scam doers is “Whatever you sow you will reap”, maybe not now but surely later on.
Jo.
March 29th, 2007 at 4:11 pm
got an email from dr. peter raul…saying the same thing from la primitiva lottery in spain..any one dealt with this guy yet?
April 1st, 2007 at 12:27 am
Wow don’t u just love the internet u can always find the the truth about things.
I was tempted but not send ID and only ask for a cheque and if they really wanted money for the processing of the prize money then they could take it out my winning….. But like many people say too good to be true!!!!!
Hmmm would have been nice tho just too many scams goin bout these days
April 6th, 2007 at 7:16 pm
Hi,
I also got notification mail as La Primitiva Lottery winning notification, it looks like a big scam, Any one ask for Bank Account details , be careful it’s a scam.
Be care ful of these stupid guys robbing your bank account.
take care, keep your hard earned money safe!!!
Raj
April 7th, 2007 at 9:57 am
hi there
my name is anil
i have also recived this letter i would just like to know how they hot hold of my details as i am only 17 and not yet registerd for any thong major like the elcetoral stuff
who do you contct to reprt this, as i think it is a very crewal thing to do.
April 9th, 2007 at 6:20 pm
i also got the letter saying i had won 885,820,00 euros. i faxed them my bank account details and i am very aware if this is just a big scam for the stupid people trying just to get my money. the claims ajent’s name is don michiel fernandez and he lives in madrid spain. the lottery programe is : la primitiva lottery promotions programme ( new year high stake) they asked for the transer fee for the bank 2500 euros to desposit his name before me get the amount. so my word to you is to be careful cause you might lose your account to some stupid stealers pretending you won the lottery.it also says that 10% of your winning money belongs to caixa grupo seguros s.a. be caurful!!!!!!!! they printed the letter on 22nd of march 2007.it says you have to claim the money before april 20th 2007.
April 10th, 2007 at 5:13 pm
is there a way to get these people in trouble, i mean it cant be legal to do this crap to people… there was a legit looking check enclosed in the letter i got and i took it to the bank that was printed on the check which was a wachovia and they told me it was a bogus check (which i knew already) but seriously can these people get away with this… writing fake checks and stuff…
its the wonderful US of A… people get screwed all the time by these forgien tards… they shouldnt be allowed to do this crap…
April 11th, 2007 at 12:16 am
Chris,
People are getting screwed not only in the US, but all over the world, and I guess more people loose money over this in Asia, North Africa and Eastern Europe, since there are more newcomers on the web around in those areas.
The problem with getting the authorities to act on these cases is that it is regarded as petty crime, misdemeanors. Then there is the problem with jurisdiction. It’s way beyond the local police force and the state police (or their equivalents in other countries), and too small for any federal agency to act upon.
Here in the European Union, we don’t have a EU police force, and even if we had, I doubt they A) could be bothered with investigating crime on this scale or B) would initiate international or even world-wide investigations going after gangs located all over the world.
I sound pessimistic, but when two national police forces have problems cooperating big-time fraud, how can we expect cooperation between 20 different national police forces? I think they all just sit around waiting for somebody else to take action.
Oh, and if any of you scammers has made it this far down on this page, don’t get your hopes up. You will get caught one day, and your potential victims are getting wiser.
April 11th, 2007 at 4:39 pm
Hi!
I recieved a letter today….yeah I “won” a lot of money,haha, though I’ve never played this lottery?!
Please answer this, Nikke:
I don’t like the thought of them having my adress…do they know more about me..? How did they get MY adress?? My adress was perfect written, it even had an letter which is only found in scandinavian vocabulary…hmmmmm (I live in Norway…)
Thank you so much for this web site!!
Chels
April 12th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
Yeah, I recieved a letter today. It could be easily seen as a definate fake+scam. Thanks for this website, it reconfirmed everything. So no thanks Don Carlos Antonio, save your Microsoft Powerpoint skills for someone else :P!!!!1111
+ How did they get my address?!
April 13th, 2007 at 2:14 pm
Salut!
Je suis de la Guadeloupe et j’ai déja reçu cette lettre 3 fois au moins.
La dernière en date étaient(selon eux) la dernière qu’il m’enveraient puisque la date limite est le 26 avril 2007.
C’est vraiment dégueulasse ce que ces gens font : ils n’imaginenet pas le mal qu’ils peuvent faire autour d’eux. Il y a certainement des gens qui ont vraiment besoin de cet argent et eux ils en jouent.
En plus on dirai vraiment un document officiel avec en-tête et tout, logo, tampon et SURTOUT des noms et une signature à la main. (ou alors ils ont de très bon programmes pour faire que les trucs soient en relief!!)
Mais ce ki m’intrigue dans l’histoire c’est le but de ce genre d’organisation, en loccurence la loteria primitiva: c’est quoi en fait ? une arnaque pour nous prendre de l’argent sur le compte dont on leur aura donné le numéro??
J’arrive pas à me faire à l’idée que ce genre de choses puisse arriver et surtout qu’il n’y ai aucune autorité compétente pour les arréter!!
Et puis, OU ONT-ILS EU MON ADRESSE?????????
Heureusement qu’il existe encore une minorité de personnes consciencieuses qui veulent prévenir les autres de ce genre d’abus.
Merci.
April 13th, 2007 at 9:27 pm
For those who read French as badly as I do. Here is a kind of translation (courtsey of google.com/translate)
Hello! I am of the Guadeloupe and I already received this letter 3 times at least. The last in date were (according to them) the last that it enveraient me since the deadline is on April 26, 2007. It is really disgusting what these people do: they imaginenet not the evil which they can make around them. There are certainly people who need really this money and they they play about it. In more one will say really an official document with heading and all, logo, plug and ESPECIALLY of the names and a signature with the hand. (or then they have very good programs to make that the tricks are in relief!!) But this ki intrigues me in the history it is the goal of this kind of organization, in loccurence the loteria primitiva: it is what in fact? does one swindle to take money to us on the account which one will have given them the number?? I am not able to make me with the idea that this kind of things can arrive and especially that it have there no proper authority for the arréter!! And then, OR did they HAVE MY ADDRESS????????? Fortunately that there is still a minority of conscientious people who want to prevent the others of this kind of abuse. Thank you.
// Nikke
April 14th, 2007 at 10:13 pm
Well, it’s still going around. I received a letter today. Checked it out on the web when they asked for my bank details with a copy of my passport. The other giveaway was the fact that half of us could have probably designed the letterhead better than they did.
April 15th, 2007 at 10:15 am
Hi, my partner received this certificate too! I went on the internet and thanks to people like you who set up sites about these crooks offering hope to people of all walks of life, I want to thank you. I did not think it could be real because usually one knows when one enters a lottery! BUT, like many of the people above have commented, that we all live the dream and hope one day our lives could change by a lovely windfall! oh well, such is life - will wait for the next one as there are guaranteed to be more on the way.
April 16th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
I got a letter through today, and it all looked legit, so i faxed off a copy of my passport and asked for a transfer, putting in my account no and sort code. Can they get anything from my account now that i have already sent something off?
April 17th, 2007 at 9:26 pm
Oh yes I received one too today! A real hardcopy in an envelope!
All interesting-looking with phoney names and phone-numbers and a personal signature, stamp and hand-written date. Exactly same message, just a little different. NOrmally I discard this sort of stuff immediately but this one had a regular post stamp and was posted by mailbox in Malaga!
But I know nobody (from Spain) who would just send me this amount of money just for nothing. Never trust it!
BUt it’s the best spam I’ve seen.
April 17th, 2007 at 9:40 pm
Great, isn’t it Tina? Thanks for sharing.
Actually, these kinds of letters started out as hand written messages. And they probably get a much higher lead return that way even though sending out hardcopy enveloped letters is more expencive for the scammers.
April 18th, 2007 at 6:08 pm
ya I also got the same mail from Loteria Primitiva…and I rejected it directly coz I know that it’s not gonna happen that I won any lottery…coz I hate lottery and I never played nor join any of them…nt a single time in my whole life!
but then by my curiosity..I just double check it in the net hoping to find some police blutter or such kind…then I found this”Nikkes Index”. great job nickke.
I hate those scam people.
April 19th, 2007 at 4:21 am
Hello! My name is Celeste and I am from Argentina. First of all, I’m sorry for my english but I think that it is important if I talk about my experience. My mother has received a letter from Spain which said that she had won a lot of money because off a Lottery Prize. I didn´t believe what that letter says because anyone gives you money for nothing (we didn´t send a letter or anything). We don´t know how they get our address.
There were a name and a telephone number in the letter so we called. We were confused because it was from Spain but the letter was in English and the man who answered our call talked in english too. When we asked him about the way how they had gotten our address, he answered me that he wasn’t autorized to give me that information…. I had to fill a form with different things including the number of a bank account.
Thanks for that page because if I hadn´t found it, i would sent the form
April 20th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
I received a letter from international lotto commission.
What mean ?It is a fake propaganda? But I received it 2 times(2005 and 2007)
agent: PABLO GARCIA (ESTRELLA SEGUROS S.A Company Tel:011 34 653 252 609
and fax: 011 34 911 010 569
Reference number : MXAT/0999/171ESP
BATCH No: 12115-04/EU
Tank you for your letter
April 20th, 2007 at 7:00 pm
Yes it’s fake. The letter is sent by thieves that want you to believe that you are suddenly rich, and then they want you to pay just a little of your new riches in advance.
The catch is, you will never see any money.
April 20th, 2007 at 9:00 pm
Oh dear,
I received the same letter which every one got, Then phone me next day and asking to pay 1980 pound immediately for banking transaction cost. They given me the detail to be paid.
Name of the person …….Mr. JONATHAN SHERIF
ADDRESS …………………GRANVIA 44
MADRIO SPAIN
BANK NAME ………………CAJACAMARIAS
A/C NO…………………….ES7820650221714100010265
S.CODE……………………CECAESMM 065.
Once I paid the money then only they can release my winning amount to my bank. I went through the google search and find out this site and i got enough informations about the silent cheat.
So this is what happened with me. Thanks for everybody’s comment to prevent me to jump their trap. I wish this all causing people go behind the bars the whole life.
April 21st, 2007 at 7:26 pm
If only i had searched the web yesterday!!!
Well fortunately i have not sent them my bank details.
I received the very same letter yesterday, at first i thought it was too good to be true. I thought yeah right this is a scam. But because the form attached also gave the option of a certified cheque, i thought it might be true.
So unfortunately this morning i faxed them the form a photo copy of my photo card drivers liceence. my only worry is can they use this for any other scams.
I don’t believe i fell for this!
Thank goodness for this site.
April 23rd, 2007 at 9:35 am
Nice…. the letter with the banks and personal details was sent…..
now what?
when they called this morning asking for 1.200£ i got suspicious and i searched the net and i found this. thank you very much for this page!
April 23rd, 2007 at 11:55 am
I got a letter on friday telling me i had won the lottery (1.5m Euro’s) but how do they get your details? im only 17 have no credit card dont register on any sites it is realy odd 90% of me knew it was a scam 10% of me whated to try it out and was hoping it was real thies things are just to good to be true you font get anything for free, lol.
April 24th, 2007 at 5:35 am
I would just like to thank you for your web site as I also recieved this letter in the mail today. All the wording is similar to yours only the ref. and batch numbers differ. This is really upsetting as life already throws enough daily challenges your way, now for something like this to happen is just so darn wrong. They get you in this amazing spirit that makes you feel that finally something has gone your way only to discover it is just another evil persons out there to get from you what they can, like the goverment is not enough to be aware of! I would have probably gone along with this scam had I not had the internet. Wonder how many out there without this technology have walked into this sad and inhumane scam. Hope these idiots rot in hell. Thanking you again for your consideration in setting up this website.
April 24th, 2007 at 11:53 pm
I just received a “la Primitiva Lotto commission” letter and I was at first really happy! the truth is that I often go to Spain as I am a Spanish Teacher, but I never played the Lotto. I was quite concerned however because it was too good to be true. I am actually in financial problems and that looks like “somebody had listen to my prayers”. However, I decided to check in the Internet first because they ask for bank details or an ID. I am quite please (and desilusioned at the same time!) that I was wise this time. thank you for confirming my fears!
Annie
April 25th, 2007 at 4:36 pm
Thanks for you nice words Annie. I’m really glad that I could be of some assistance.
April 25th, 2007 at 7:23 pm
Never been a victim of a scam…But today I RECEIVED A LETTER FROM SPAIN. Yes the real one with official stamps, signed….DR. MARTIN GONZALEZ IS MY AGENT to contact if I want to get my seven hundred and fifty thousand euros. I BELIEVED tHAT I really won because everything seems genuine. I decided to do some research and I am so glad that I did. Despite the fact that I am still very disappointed I will still play the lottery and you know (fingers crossed) I might well be a WINNER…… And remember NEVER EVER give your bank details, ID….. if you are suspicious.THANKS FOR SETTING UP THIS SITE…….
April 26th, 2007 at 10:35 am
I was still wondering either this is a real thing or juz a fack fool that would make people thought that it might make people rich or instad making u rich from stealing other people bank account. I don’t think that this is the end n im quite positive to report this to the police which i feel this is the best decision to make before it might get worse, because according to the Law it is the serious offence under the breach of trush and cheating under the Law. I am relieve coz i hv found tis nikke page to RELISE ME……………………
April 26th, 2007 at 10:49 am
Received a letter on the 26th April 2007 from La Primitiva Lottery signed Jose Miguel Rodriguez Promotions Director and contact person was Mario Sanchez saying we had won €615,810,00 thought my luck was in my husband said from the start this sounds to good to be true, but we thought you never know that someone might be looking down on us, so to be on the safe side as they wanted personal details also on us receiving the money thay wanted a payment of 10%, well had a look on the internet ad of course it was a SCAM, thank you for so much for setting up this site. I just feel so sorry for people that might not have access to the internet and have sent there details.
April 26th, 2007 at 12:37 pm
Had one too, unfortunatley older or less wise people will respond
unless you personally buy a ticket you have not won a thing anywhere
in the world.
April 26th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
I bought a el grando lotto ticket in 2004, (didnt win) then last week I got a letter from El Gordo I’d won 15,155 euros yippee,Thinking it was something to do with ticket I had bought in 2004 , faxed the form and waited for the cheque, then today I got a phone call from Antonio Gonzalez (with indian accent) telling me to send £1465 for insurance and bank charges, told him that I am a pensioner and dont have 1465pence so he slammed the phone down , just another scam and another fool to believe it
April 26th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
I have reported this scam to watchdog consumers services, if they put it on their web site and maybe mention it on the tv show, more people will know that its a scam
April 26th, 2007 at 10:50 pm
Thanks for the website!!!!!
I thought I am the lucky winner as well…………..to good to be true!!!!!!!!
Can I upload the letter in this website?
April 26th, 2007 at 11:24 pm
Joyce, what a good move! That’s the thing to do. Spread the word more and more, and sooner or later at least one international police organisation will have to start dealing with this.
Chihon, please do. If it’s a new one, I will make a new page out of it. If it already exists on the site, it’s a good thing that we can show people that come searching, that a lot of people received identical, or almost identical emails.
April 29th, 2007 at 2:48 am
WELL I GOT THE SAME BUT NOT IN MAIL BY E-MAIL AND I WAS SO HAPPY I THOUGHT IT WAS TRUE .I DECIDED TO LOOK ON THE ENTERNET FOR THIS LOTTERY AND I FOUND THIS WEBSITE THENK YOU CAUSE IT HELPED ALOT
May 1st, 2007 at 12:37 pm
It seems they operate now in Switzerland. I got a mail from this criminal organization yesterday. The adress from this criminal organization: Casa de la Primitiva C/Perez sin Numero, C/P 28019 Madrid-Espania and Seguridad agencias y Representantivo Calle Juan cruzeria sin numero 22009 Madrid Espana Tel: 0034 648-771-173 Fax:0034 652 610 860 Attention to Don Paulo Eduardo e-mail adress: estrelliasegu@madrid.com or estrelliaagent@k.ro
May 2nd, 2007 at 1:44 pm
Hi Nikke and everybody
I got the same similar letter today. It is indeed very clever, the letter came from Spain (Malaga), it looks very official, I know there is an El Gordo lottery in Spain, it mentions the official spanish betting name, an official stamp and signature, a real insurance company (in my case Seguros Bilbao).
However, a few things just could not possibly make sense, first of all I did not buy a ticket for the lottery!! Nobody gives anything away for nothing.
Secondly how could they have got my address? I have now changed all my email accounts and other web services to exclude such details, and I would urge anyone to do the same.
Thirdly, it was in English, even though it was from Spain and I’m portuguese. And you know that if someone is asking for your bank details you are asking for trouble.
I went on the internet straight away, searched the spanish el gordo lottery, they have several lotteries, checked the winning lucky numbers for 2007 and none of them matched. I then matched the whole name, i.e. “El Gordo de la Primitiva Lottery International Programme” and presto here appears this website and I had the confirmation of the scam.
What to do now really, is the question. As I said I have changed my details on the internet, and I might look to find the BBC’s watchdog website. I was thinking that maybe I would get in touch with the spanish “loterias y apuestas del estado” byemail, namely the bilbao or malaga’s delegations, but after having read your site the perpetrators might not even be in Spain, it sounds like it is a very intricate web of deceipt.
I just hope that any further people affected have the fortune of searching the web and finiing this website.
Paulo
May 2nd, 2007 at 1:53 pm
Hi guys… I received a letter too…. I knew that was fake… nothing is free and easy in this world as lotteria primitiva wants us to believe. I’m wondering…… is this a lucrative business for these people? how do they make money? ot it is just a joke? just people that hasn’t got anything to do and want to spend time somehow?
I will be great if someone has got some explanation about these letter…
best regards
May 2nd, 2007 at 1:59 pm
thanks to Joyce now I know….. they ask you for money after a while… I see…. hope that none is going to believe these fake letters.
May 4th, 2007 at 4:29 am
Recieved the lottery letter today along with an email offer of 150kg of gold dust for $12,000 that’s 2 scams in a day they obviously have a successful hit rate. These scams go back 20+ years. Threats of violence and in the case of Nigeria murders have been known to have been comitted. Give them an invitation and they will come knocking in some cases. Serious stuff>
May 4th, 2007 at 6:53 pm
dear sir
it is reauy apitty .i found no vent through i can ger my courier .
the banks here in algeria made no regulatoin.the told me thar
they culd not proceed in the way to wanted it until they recieve
the courier.so please send it and you will have every thing
right and delivered.
mail.goutti84@yahoo.fr
DERROUICHE MENOUER
street yakhlef kouider safsaf benbadis 223001
wilaya of sidi balabes
ALGERIE
badr bank
groupe regionale d exploitatoin
agence locale de banbadis.765
code benque 0003
code guichet 00765
swift badr dzal
765 053356 01201 0.33 derrouiche menouer
May 4th, 2007 at 6:55 pm
mail goutti84@yahoo.fr neme: derrouiche menouer.
Please sir,
I want to ask you about the easiest way to get my winning chek.
In my county ( Algerian banks) a servery slow to do this kind of tings.
I wonder if you may eb me by sending messages or e mails to the britic embassy in Algeria to allow me get a visa to te U.K indprder to fulfil my file there
So deare sir, Ibeg you to do the necessary witme and I’m very thankfut.
Your
THANK.j’ have wanted the cheqoue by courier. by the this been able bounque my demonde les.v.p.: to send it by courier:
DERROUICHE MENOUER
street yakhlef kouider safsaf benbadis 223001
wilaya of sidi balabes
ALGERIE
badr bank
groupe regionale d exploitatoin
agence locale de banbadis.765
code benque 0003
code guichet 00765
swift badr dzal
765 053356 01201 0.33 derrouiche menouer
May 10th, 2007 at 8:55 am
yeah, i received the same form telling similar stuff, the difference were only money amounts and names of so called agents..
thanks for revealing bullshit
May 10th, 2007 at 2:39 pm
I recently had a postal letter telling me I’d won heapsa money (yeah right) on the release of the ‘LA PRIMITIVA LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS PROGRAMME’ you don’t get something for nothing right?! And as I’ve never even been to Spain (sad but true) I knew straight off it was a scam….but I’d really like to know how they got hold of my home addy…I don’t really send off for stuff so it’s quite confusing…hmmm..
May 10th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
Hi Nikke.
Thank you for this site. It is the 10.5.07 and today I have received the same type of letter as all these people. I have heard of this type of letter before in this country and was very wary of it. I think the best thing people can do is to let the media know of this scam and therefore perhaps many more people wouldn’t be taken in by them.
Thank you all for your comments it does help.
May 10th, 2007 at 8:12 pm
Believe it or not they have hit Ireland now too. These Nigerian scams sure seem to get around! Our letter was identical in detail to Caren in the UK (April 26th) above. Deep down we knew it was too good to be true but wanted to check it out online anyway and were pleased to find your site with all this information. Pity though as it would have been nice to be able to afford that little “Spanish” place in the sun! Mind you, we’ll be playing the numbers provided by these kind people in the REAL lotto this weekend - you never know, they may have just supplied us with the winning numbers!
May 10th, 2007 at 8:17 pm
Hi everyone.
09.05.07 - I received a letter very similar from the ‘La Primitiva’ and was very suspect on opening hence checking on tinternet straight away. Just as i thought, same old story and pretty obviously a scam really. For a start, who would send you confirmation of a lottery win (several hundred thousand Euros) on a game you have never played? Who would send it on shite paper which has been photocopied millions of times? A vile scum bag looking to play on innocent victims that’s who. Do not go any further with this letter, you’re bound to regret it!!!
Hopefully someone will catch up with these pricks soon.
For the record the current disguise is ‘Jose Miguel Rodriguez’ prize amount € 615,810.00 posted from Correos, Malaga..
May 12th, 2007 at 4:39 pm
Hello
My name is Rene , I’m Dutch but currently living in Germany.
We received a simular letter today (11th may-2007) from La Primitiva Lottery Award stating that we have won Euro 415.410=.
Since we play a lot of lottery we thought it could be true. We made the phone call to Spain to ask for some clarification. Like all the others we got the same direction fax the form and the money will be tranferred. This is all to good to be true. The stamp from spain and the contact number made us a believer of our luck. Thanks to the internet we are back on our feet again and will keep on working for our money.
Reading all your stories helps a lot thank you all and you Nikke
May 13th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
I have received the same letter as everybody here inthis web! I did all the procedures but did not send my bank accounts !!! Tomorrow thet are going to call me and I will let you all know about this rubbish group and what they are doing!!!!! I am going to continune the process to see what happens and they have to send me the biggggggggg moneyyyyyyy on a cheque (as they have mentioned on their approval letter!!!)
Will seeeeeeee !!!!! Ofcourse they will not call me again after tomorrowwwwwwww!!!
Thank you for everything coz I was thinking that whole my life has been changed!!!
Thanks a lot
Sara
May 14th, 2007 at 12:37 am
i have got the same letter, i have to say i half belive it because i know that around christmas time i did enter a few lotteries and now i do not know if its a scam or not because of that!
May 14th, 2007 at 2:57 am
Dear Sir or Madam:
I am in receipt of a letter dated April 26, stating I have won a lot of money. Can you tell me if I really won or if it is a scam of some sort?
Please let me know about this matter as soon as you are able.
Thank you for your attention to the above.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth Vasquez
May 14th, 2007 at 4:19 pm
well how many people did recive this award, is it realy fake?????
nice try hope this dont happend to my mon, she will for sure try this.
thanks for the website really helpfull
diego
May 14th, 2007 at 8:21 pm
MY HUSBAND HAS JUST RECEIVED ONE OF THESE LETTERS.WE WERE SO UNIMPRESSED BY THE BIG WIN THAT HE WENT FOR A LITTLE SLEEP AND I COOKED THE DINNER.WHERE DID THEY GET OUR ADDRESS? WE HAVE TWO POSSIBLE ADDRESSES FOR OUR HOME AND THE ONE USED IS NOT THE ONE WE USE EVERYDAY.IN THE SIX YEARS WE HAVE LIVED HERE I HAVE NEVER EVER USED THIS ADDRESS. IS THERE ANY USE GIVING THIS LETTER TO OUR LOCAL GARDA OR TO THE SPANISH EMBASSY? IF NOT I’M GOING TO FRAME IT AND IMPRESS MY FRIENDS. YOUR SITE MAKES GREAT READING . THANK YOU FOR GIVING US A FORUM TO ALERT OTHERS TO THIS FRAUD. ANGELA (IN IRELAND) P.S. IM E 615,810.00 POORER NOW THAN I WAS A FEW HOURS AGO. SO SAD
May 14th, 2007 at 8:31 pm
Heads up! This is not isolated to e-mails! I just opened a very similar document claiming I have won nine hundred and eighty five thousand nine hundred and fifty Euros that arrived the old fashioned way, my mail man. I did notice the address was Madrid, Spain, I was wondering if anyone else may have stayed in Mexico at a hotel owned by the Spanish. I think this could be the connection, they are usually all inclusive resorts. Just a thought.
May 16th, 2007 at 1:15 am
Dear All!
My grandmom have recieved the same letter today, and she seems to be the happiest person on earth. I too was happy to see her happy but before proceeding with the procedure I thought of checking the internet to confirm its authenticity, I am glad I found this website and did not forward my bank details to them. However, I just can’t decide how to let my grandmom know of this :(. This would be just so upsetting for her to know.
Now the most important part:
Many of you might be thinking as to how they get your address and name
In my case, I can say for sure that it is basically the “Telephone directory” that’s working for them. They take out any name along with its addess and no. and send in the letter on the same. I am sure this is the only way they can have your address and name. So stop getting worried about it.
May 16th, 2007 at 10:33 am
I WON
Yeah right, as above I received a letter and wondered why my insurance company had started doing lotteries. Imagine my horror when I found out that Estrella Seguros did not in fact have any knowledge of any lottery winnings. So they have contacted thier Spanish based office (the head office) and are going to claim my winnings for me. How nice of them. only the person claiming the prize isnt going to be me (shock horror). Apparently I have received a call from a family member as I am (gasp) in Spain on holiday and advised that I have won 815,810.00 euros. Apparently I have the 2500 euros on me to claim the prize and can give it to them.
Of course the Estrella Seguros Insurance company investigation branch are going to end up very busy. This letter even has their logo and they are P*@@%D
May 17th, 2007 at 10:40 am
My niece recieved this letter yesterday. She is 4 years old!!! How the hell would this company manage to get her details?
Sadly my sister (her mum) thought it may be a genuine letter but luckily decided to check with me before sending on her details.
But i am thinking it might be funny to contact them with the details of a 4 year old just to see what sort of reply they give.
May 17th, 2007 at 4:38 pm
Hi all!
I’m the winner today!!! I called the office half an hour ago and they confirmed my prize. What a relief that I’ve found that web site before I tell my all family how lucky I am.
May 17th, 2007 at 4:40 pm
Ilona, could you tell us a bit more about the call.
What did they want from you now?
May 17th, 2007 at 7:53 pm
Hi
my wife revieced a letter from loteria primitiva yesterday, and we won 297.486,22 € we live in copenhagen, the adresse detail they have sent it to was in danish.
I call the agent Don Carlos valentino , and he asked for the reference number and sercurity number then he sayed congratulation you have won 397.486,22 € fax me your details and call me afterwords.
May 17th, 2007 at 9:50 pm
Hi Ib,
If you decide to fax them your details, make sure you don’t send anything that might be used to withdraw money from your bank account. Even though Danish bank security is good, you don’t want anybody to have details about you that can be used in a more deliberate scam than most of these lottery scams are.
May 19th, 2007 at 8:03 pm
Hey everyone, I got letter from La Primitiva lotery about my win, But I was exactly playing that lottery on the internet, and the lucky numbers witch are in the letter are exactly my…………and another think, I sent them my accout information and my fotocopy of my passport by fax, then I call to number (to spain) witch was in my letter and my agent said my that my win will by in my account in one week………..nobody asked my about paing anything to them……..so what do you think abou it ? because now, how I reed this page I realy dont now what I have to think about it……
May 20th, 2007 at 12:52 pm
Scooby,
I have some follow-up questions for you.
First of all. Where and how did you play it online?
It would be very easy for a scammer to set up a fake site where gullable players would leave their contact addresses and (surprise, surprise) win a lot of money.
Keep talking to them if you want, and then report back when they want the first commission/tax/fee in advance.
May 20th, 2007 at 7:58 pm
I have received a similar letter, after sending the requested detals, Mr Martin Perez Of Andalucia Seguros Int. S.A of Tel No + 34 655629 095 confirmed that i had won the lottery and he insisted on me forwading him Euros 1752 by bank transfer to an individual person account as per given details. He is still calling me to inquire if i have forwarded the funds.
I wonder why these people are still in the market after all these scam letters have been caught.
Friends be careful!!!! Hope this comes to an end soon.
May 21st, 2007 at 8:28 am
well thanx you helped seal our decision to ignore this letter which is frightfully alike the ones on this website. cheers to you all.
May 21st, 2007 at 6:18 pm
I also received one of these letters in the post. I immediately new it was a scam and my susipicions were correct. Interestingly the *real* Groupama Security have this notice on their website:
“We have been notified of a series of letters purporting to relate to ‘the Spanish Lottery’ and allegedly involving ‘Groupama Seguros’, the Spanish subsidiary of Groupama.
Please note that these are not genuine letters and anyone receiving such correspondence should not respond or provide the personal details requested.
We take these letters very seriously and are in course of a detailed investigation to identify the senders. If such a letter is received, please inform us immediately via customer.service@groupama.co.uk and send the original letter to:
Stephen Teeling
Technical Claims Controller
1 Port Way
Port Solent
Portsmouth
Hampshire
PO6 4TY”
http://www.groupama.co.uk/latestnews/news/060421_spain.asp
Please don’t fall for this - it’s a scam.
—–
Thanks for that link Diplo, I’ll add it up in the main article.
May 21st, 2007 at 8:09 pm
We received one, as well, in Germany. I was surprised to see one come through the old fashioned post mail, but I suppose those who look at fraudulent scams will attempt the unusual. It claims we won “785,810.00″ Euros. I’m about to go and quit my job! Seriously, the letter looks far from professional, as the seals in the upper corners are bad copies and the bar code on the second page lacks realism. I will give the initiators of this one item of credit: their English is improving.
May 21st, 2007 at 8:31 pm
dear friends,
i also received letter from El Gordo lottery in Spain that ive benn selected as a random email selection and i’ll be paid lakhs of euros,and one attached form is there with official logo ,contact no etc,so i gave them my account no,name,and swift code,now i fear if can they withdraw money from my account and what to do?pl advice me.
May 22nd, 2007 at 12:20 am
i received a letter yesterday (in the post) from LA PRIMITVIA LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS PROGRAMME. at first i thought it was too good to be true, then i got a little curious and decided to investigate the logos on the letter head, ‘Loterias y Apuestas del Estado’. i typed them in a the website opened up, which was official, i checked the lottery numbers and they didnt match. i then decided to phone the number and a man answered the phone with an african accent (nigerian?) and he said i should phone them as soon as i fax my details over.
i searched the internet agin and typed in LA PRIMITVIA LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS PROGRAMME into the search engine and this site came up and other sites saying SCAM SCAM! which comfirmed my suspcious!
thanks this site saved me from sending my details
ps my contacts name was Dr Riko David
May 22nd, 2007 at 2:14 pm
Well enough said, enough heard. I received the exact copy of this letter as everyone else this morning. They must have a lot of money to give away considering the amount of promises they’ve made in the past. I was just about to fill and return the form but decided to look up on the net for this so called “LA Primitiva Promotion Program”. To my amazement there isn’t anything like it; it’s all a set up. I’m absolutely gutted. The good news is, in my head I was living in riches for a couple of hours but switched back to my broke self again. Another thing I noticed about these letters is that they seem to have a new Vice President every single day since all the names are different. People be cautious, like everyone else IT IS A SCAM.
May 23rd, 2007 at 11:22 pm
This is really disgusting. I got this same letter today 24th of May, 2007. First I wondered how they got my address then I remembered that I have my name and address in the BT catalogue. They may have gotten it there. What surprised me most was that I have bever played lottery in my whole life neither had I been to spain. The letter sent was looking so genuine, stamped, a picture of two men giving a woman a cheque at the top right hand corner, a form for me to fill etc… but then I was wondering why my name was not on the letter it self…only on the envelope. I just reasoned that they would have sent this to a thousand and one persons. My God. It will fool a whole lot of people. I was asked to contact Mr Pedro Diego, foreign operation Manager of Grupo Bilbao Security, Spain. They had their telephone number and fax numbers in the letter.
I just thought I should go do a search on the internet and then I stumbled to this website. I must really thank you for putting up this site. I actually thought I will give them a call but was not ready to pay a dime if it comes to them asking me to pay some monies into some accounts.
The person who came out with this idea must be really sick… really really Sick.
May 25th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
I have been reading the comments with interest as I received a letter this morning. It’s along the same lines as the rest but they seem to change the security company -mine is Bilbao seguras SL and the contact is Dr Paul David. I too wondered how they had targeted me until I read on a website that they seem to be targeting immigrants or people with “foreign” sounding names not indigenous to the country they are living in. This would tie in with me as my name is Polish although I was born in Scotland. I also use my own name although I am married and my husband did not receive a letter-presumably because his name sounds “normal”. I would still like to know how the scamsters get hold of the information in the first place but in the meantime like everyone else I urge everyone to ignore all such letters.
May 25th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
Hi guys, I’m 20 and a student and can you imagine how shocked i was reading that I’d “supposedly” won Six Hundred and fifteen thousand eight hundred and ten euros.WOW that meant i wouldnt have to work over summer to go on hols!!!! anyways ive just come online to google it and thankgod i found this website!!!!! how the hell do they have my address? SHame i didnt win but do i send it off to that address up top and it get sorted?
May 26th, 2007 at 1:43 am
I too received the same letter thru an ordinary mail with perfect Spanish stamp on the envelope which encloses a lettter saying Attention: Winner and a form to fill all the personal detalils including bank details.
I never ever played lottery in my life and in fact if get money like this which is not part of my hard work earnings, I don’t know how to spend that. At the moment I received the letter I raised a lot questions in myself exactly the same as I find in this blog. So finally, I want to say one thing to the fuck-in idiots stop sending this sort of stupid mail/email and still even doesn’t feel the non-sense I advise them to go thru this blog.
May 26th, 2007 at 9:53 am
I’ve received letter this morning too…… my contact person is Fred Marino, both contact numbers are mobiles and in addition all ticket, serial and winning numbers match the numbers from the mail from the top of this page (january 2005 :-)))))…………
May 26th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
Got the letter this morning , La primitiva promotions programme, won 615,810 euros.Contact person is Mario Sanchez, tel 0034 692 318 574, fax 0034 911 817 413, signed by Jose Miguel Rodriguez-promotions director. Agent is Grupo Bilbao Security Company (Securigos Bilbao). Asking for bank details, passport copies, next of kin’s details. says I have to pay 10% of my winnings to Bilbao Securigos as they bought this ticket in my name. I DIDN’T ask them to buy any tickets for me, never been to Spain, but WORRIED about my address being known to CROOKS! Put The letter in the bin or better send it to Watchdog, the one in Hampshire. Everyone, please keep sending your comments and we might bust this scam one day!
May 26th, 2007 at 7:39 pm
i too recieved the letter sayin i had one 615,810.00 euros (exactly the same cash prize as emily) i am a student as well so the thought of having that money was exciting. luckily i have been watching the (REAL HUSTLE). you never win anything you dont know youve entered, an obvious scam!! the actual text in the letter was beleivable however the shitty copy and paste job done to the logos gave it away. thankyou lindquist.com for clearing the air
May 26th, 2007 at 7:53 pm
i apologise for my spelling im just f***ed off
May 28th, 2007 at 8:56 pm
well just got one this morning and i tried to look it up on any web site scams and i have not found it. euro sweepstake lottery company sa. his name is Mario Ortiz. i called him up and he said why am i worried and not to worry just to send him the papers back. the papers do not say to pay him money but it says that i will have 10% off my winnings. attached,is a processing form,fill it out and return it to DAILY CARE SECURITY COMPANY S.A for processing and remittance of your winning fund. if someon]e got the same thing as i did write back!!
thanks again!
May 28th, 2007 at 8:57 pm
is there some real one’s
May 28th, 2007 at 9:12 pm
Stephano,
Just as in the off-line reality, there are lots of real lotteries, but they all share the one catch, that you need to purchase a lottery ticket in order to win.
May 28th, 2007 at 10:00 pm
Received a letter today in the post, however, knew it would be to good to be true so then I checked the internet, thanks for the information, oh well dreams will have to stay on hold ha!
May 29th, 2007 at 8:18 pm
I just recieved a letter my postal service stating almost the exact same things as you all have said. I am certainly confused how they got my info, because my name is not in any phone directory and they have my married name on the documents. I have traveled alot and played many lotteries. I LIVE inthe UNITED STATES so this is spreading even quicker than any of us realize. I almost belived it. FAT CHANCE they will hear from me. The letters were well written and very offical in text and print. Biggest problem I found is that most lotteries that people win those large amounts of money are not just done with minimal infoand banking transfer. There is alot more in the process of identifying the winner and the authinticity. So be very aware. Here is some of the names and info used in the letter I recieved. The contact numbers are 011 34 699 616 466, fax 011 034 911 412 736. The contact person was Fred Marino, Foreign Service Manager of LA ESTRELLA DE SEGUROS S. A. The email address given was laestrella@consultant.com The other type of address given on the document was Pasaje Serrano N21,28008 Madrid Spain
Italy office:Via Piantoni no.9,Brescia Italy
It was also signed and stamped by one Antonio Garcia, Vice President
THE LETTER HAD NO RETURN ADDRESS ON THE ENVELOPE!!
WORD TO THE WISE LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP!!! THESE PEOPLE WILL MOST LIKELY NEVER GET CAUGHT AND THEY WILL CONTINUE TO ROB INOCENT PEOPLE AS LONG AS THERE ARE GULABLE PEOPLE LIVING IN THIS WORLD!! THEY ALSO WILL NOT REGRET THE HEARTACHE AND PAIN THEY BRING UPON OTHERS, FOR THAT MATTER THEY JUST DONT CARE!!!!
May 30th, 2007 at 10:08 am
I just got a letter today as well, seems they’re now targetting people in Ireland, seeing as they’ve failed everywhere else!! Mine was also LOTERIAS Y APUESTAS DEL ESTADO & LA PRIMITIVA, signed by JOSE MIGUEL RODRIGUEZ and again to give 10% to them. Yeah right!! So tell me when was I in spain that I bought a ticket!!
I am sending to the Fraud Squad here in Ireland so they can follow up on it.
Great website, without it alot would be scammed
May 30th, 2007 at 11:56 pm
I feel aggrieved. i only won €615810 and I have to contact Mr Anonio Sanchez. How come you got more than me. This world is so unfair. Sounds like an attempt at identification theft. By the way my son has just pointed out that the watermark is a fake also. It is injet printed. Now I know I really got jipped.
Good website. Keep up the good work.
June 1st, 2007 at 7:37 am
I only won same as you Francis, 615810 euros. Pretty hacked off it was not more. Jose Miguel is asking for my passport number or a copy of my driving license. It is an attempt at identity theft, and a very poor attempt at that.
Great Site. Some great Comments
David, Scotland
June 1st, 2007 at 10:19 am
Francis and David. Thanks for you comments.
I think the setup is to attempt an ID theft if possible, but otherwise to just try to gain some level of authority before starting to ask for fees, taxes and commissions.
June 1st, 2007 at 6:26 pm
I have just received a letter from Spain (with a genuine Spanish stamp on it), telling me that I won 785,510.00 euros out of 8,640,610.00 euros in this so-called lottery, which I knew I didn’t enter at all (I don’t play any lottery). The wording seems to be convincing, it attached a copy of a Payment Processing Form asking for personal info and bank detail. The contact on my letter is Frank Rogers on tel: 0034 680 189 185, fax: 0034 685 561 143, and the Managing Director is Mariano Xavier. But from the quality of the paper, the shitty printed loco and watermark on it gave the whole game away! I knew this is a scam right away, but just out of curiosity, I check it out online and find this site with people who have encountered exactly the same thing as I have.
The people who are behind this are VERY VERY SICK IN THEIR MINDS, and I hope they will be caught and locked behind bar for life very soon!!!
June 3rd, 2007 at 12:37 pm
I guess I knew it was a scam as soon as I opened the letter but there’s always a glimmer of hope? So I logged on and searched and this came up. Oh well. Next time, eh? Makes me laugh how all the ‘claims agents’ have the most comedy ridiculously cliche Spanish names. My guy was called Don Pedro Perez. Thanks Nikke…
June 3rd, 2007 at 6:37 pm
well, i guess i can only add to what you guys already said.
i also received a letter from spain with a spanish stamp from loterial y apuestas del stado which claimed that i won eur 615.810.00 in the euromillions super loterie d’espana signed by a raul gomez. i was supposed to call a don jose pablo from mejor global seguros s.a. tel 0034 605 389 362 fax 0034 911 814 140.
i did even call and the guy told me that i did have won the $$$, so i faxed the thing, fortunately w/o my bank acct. information. too stupid i did not find this website earlier, and i am going to report the entire thing with the police tomorrow.
i also found a website which says that they have already been arrested.
https://www.european-lotteries.org/data/info_127/ELGORDO_fraud.pdf
i did not disclose any information about myself which is not anyway available on the internet, so i hope i am fine…
June 4th, 2007 at 7:58 am
Hi to all
Yes, luckily just feeling happy for a little while. So the disappointment was not so intense. Thank you for this site. I received my letter from International promotions. I am from South Africa. Hope these hooligans get caught.
June 4th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
Like many others just recieved a letter saying that I have won 615,810 euros.
I go to Spain regularly and speak reasonable spanish. I phoned the number given and spoke in Spanish but was answered in English. Every time I spoke in Spanish i was anwerd in English. He appeaed not to speak Spanish. This one was called Don Pablo Chavez..
In spain you would not use the title Don in a letter it would be Senor. Very dodgy just as well I am suspicious. Thanks for this site lad I checked it out
June 4th, 2007 at 5:55 pm
I have received a letter which had a genuine spanish stamp on it. It’d said I’d won the lottery along with 15 other international winners. Yeah right…it certainly only took 20 seconds to realise it was nothing but a scam. The print was awful. They copied the logo off a genuine spanish logo by the looks of things. How can they possibly believe anyone is going to go along and quite happily give their details to them? Duh? Anyway, I’ve been informed FROM THE DESK OF THE VICE PRESIDENT yeah…how convincing, I’d won GBP 715,810.00 in cash! And obviously congratulating me…well, for their information I still went into work!
It also suggests that due to false practices (hahahaha) they ask that we keep the award to ourselves and strictly from public notice until the claim has been processed and money remitted as part of their security protocol to avoid double claiming or unwarranted abuse of the program by unscrupulous individuals (hahaha).
The claims agent is Emmanelao Gomez who happens to be the foreign service manager of ESTRELLA SEGUROS S.A. On Tel: 00 34 692 511 442 or Fax: 00 34 911 311. If I don’t claim before the 25th June 2007 the winnings will be returned to the MINISTERIO DE ECONOMIA Y HACIENDA as unclaimed fund. They would like to inform me 10% of the winnings belongs to ESTRELLA SEGUROS. as part of their commission for acting on my behalf! As if, I haven’t even played the lottery in Spain, let alone Madrid! There is a name with signature going straight through it, and the name printed is Jose Miguel Rodriguez, Promotion Director. There’s also a naff bar code. The address this letter came from is supposedly Apartadode Correos 129, 28085, Madrid, Spain.
June 5th, 2007 at 12:45 am
I recieved a similar letter yesterday fro El Gordo Spanish Sweepstake. All the information was the same as the other subscribers to this site however my claims agent was a Pablo Garcia ph 0034 635-915-163. I contacted Mr “Palo Garcia” and got a very dodgey response which I thought was odd since I was one of their “big winners” in their lottery! Hell of a nice thought to be gifted loads of money, but reality is these scammers play the numbers game and rely on the minority falling victim to their prey.
June 5th, 2007 at 6:41 pm
I recieved the same letter as the others for my boss who was away at the time so I thought I would surprise him with these winnings and If I did all the work maybe we could split the winnings. So I had copy of his passport and faxed it with the information causiously asking for a cheque(thank God). I was so excited I started multiplying the euro into our dollar,taking out their 10% and dividing it in two for my boss and I, who by the way is a very generous man and i had no doubt he would have shared it sin ce he didn’t spend any money to win it, ha ha. Then something hit me —-go on the net and check it out - I felt like such a big fool when I got on your sight- how could I be so gulible. I am too ashamed to tell my boss. I hope they don’t use the copy of his passport for anything fraudulant. I would have wised up if they had asked for money though, I didn’t have it to give them. Take it from the winnings I would have said. Thanks for saving my ass though, your web sight is wonderful.
June 5th, 2007 at 10:53 pm
Hmmm…Yeah - how come some people got more than €615,810?!! I feel so left out of the big money now
It’s got to be at least a mill surely!! 
So - if I had been offered €45,489,285 would I be more tempted?!
I mean really - There’s really no point in claiming if it’s that little!
Anyway - I got this lovely letter today in Dublin from Spain with the Spanish stamp posted from Malaga. The usual things are on it - premium numbers for both phone call and fax number - and I SO MUST CLAIM by June 15th!
One thing I’m wondering - can I actually post the letter to someone if it would be of any help?
(…..and sure remember folks, your health is your wealth!)
June 6th, 2007 at 7:03 am
its going to bite them on their back-side soon enough, thanks to technology.Size DOES matter after-all,’cause the more they try to scam,the less their power becomes! ironic? no,it’s karma!!
June 6th, 2007 at 9:49 am
yeap.. they are still at it! I got my exciting news this morning with a Malaga postal stamp on it… I had won Euros 617,310.00 from the Euro Milliones (Ah! logo sucks!) Any way this is a notification from Fererro Guti and Mapfe Marketing S.L
What’s the old saying “you have to be in it to win it” Well thanks for entering me in it without my klnowledge !!!!!
Anyway surfers beware of the Estrellas Seguros S.A. Euromilliones Loteria notification…
June 6th, 2007 at 9:58 am
Thanks for the site .. really useful !
June 6th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
hi!i have just recieved an almost exact letter from ‘Elgordo Spanish National Lottery’ i have been contacted by agents who say i should go to Madrid and stay in a hotel for four days prior to the winnings presentation! Financially unable to do this it looks like i will not have my £68500 after all!!bummer!!!Looks like my dreams of a nice holiday, car and house are all but a fantasy, oh well!incidentally i did write to the agents who call themselves ‘Avangarde consultations’ and said that i hoped they would understand that i am disabled and financially disadvantaged and not discriminate and send my prize to me!unfortunately their response went along the lines of ’sorry, nothing we can do’.i’m about to reply and ask them to donate my winnings to charity………………………………………………….
June 6th, 2007 at 6:00 pm
Thx guys
I got the same letter today, spanish stamp, with different contact details and I’m glad I foud this site.
I’m not disclosing any more details because this guys have my address and name and apparently know more about me than I know about them.
Apparently they hand out different ammounts/contact details to different preys so they know who got which letter with each details… or are there people getting letters exacly (i mean exacly) the same?
This means that if I was to say here which details I had gotten in my letter they would know (if they came to this site) that I had spotted and blown the horn about their scam.
It’s scary… someone should take this to the police. (I might well do).
June 7th, 2007 at 5:03 am
Watch-out!!!!!!
I just received one of these letters today June 6, 2007 with familiar details
I have emailed a “Dr. Carlos Blanco”. I just want to hear what lies he has to tell me.
Thanks to your website.
June 7th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
Hello.
Yes, i too have been a victime. I received a letter today, with the exact same details. This time it was 850,000 euros!!! After calling up the numbers stated on the letters, i could tell the people i spoke to WERE NOT SPANISH. They didnt even have a Spanish accent, instead, and accent more along the lines of Nigerian… This was enough to arouse suspicion. Their telephone manor was also not professional. After this, i decided to look in the net, and hopefully came accross this site, that confirmed this stupidity! Well done guys!
Great site, keep it up!
June 7th, 2007 at 2:08 pm
Hi, I recieved a Loteria Primitiva Lottery award notice today sent from Malaga, spanish stamp, like many others I have been awarded 615,810-I wish-and asked to contact my agent Sanchez Rodriguez, which seems to be a combination of other names people have mentioned. As soon as I read it I was suspicous, but thought I would check it out on the internet just in case, your site confirmed that unfortunatly for me it’s an obvious identity scam.
Thanks for the help, I’m thinking of displaying my letter around my village to warn others, especially those without the internet.
Thanks again-Tracy
June 8th, 2007 at 5:01 am
i had got some thing like this
ScarLet Courier LTD
ADDRESS OF HEAD OFFICE:Link Place, BRIGHTON,
Sussex, BN1 7DX,ENGLAND
Tel: +44-703-190-9145
Attn: AMEET KUMAR YADAV ,
You are welcome to ScarLet Courier LTD Dispatch UNIT an affiliate of the IRISH ONLINE NATIONAL LOTTERY We are pleased to be at your service. Scarlet Courier is Regulated and Stipulated by the Finacial Service Authority(FSA).,the finacial institutions that Govern all Finacial activities in the United Kingdom.
This office has been Notified by the IRISH ONLINE NATIONAL LOTTERY of the amount won by you with their National lottery .This means that you have been officially cleared for payment by the Verifications Department at the headquarters of the IRISH ONLINE NATIONAL LOTTERY.
The original copy of your winning certificate, together with a covering document (Money Laundering protection and Letter of Affidavit for Claims) from the British government stating that the money was obtained legally through the IRISH ONLINE NATIONAL LOTTERY
will be sent to you as soon as you meet with any of the option selected.
You can now begin the final step of the claims process, which is the transferring of your cash prize to you. With regards to this, there are three options open to you, you are required to select the most convenient of the three.
The options, together with their associated conditions are presented below:
Courier of your winning cheque to you via any of this channel listed below:
DHL
Mailing: �150.00
Insurance: �250.00
Vat: �150.00
TOTAL: �550.00(24hrs)=$1,077.33 USD
UPS
Mailing: �100.00
Insurance: �250.00
Vat: �150.00
TOTAL: �500.00(2days)=$979.00 USD
FEDEX
Mailing: �150.00
Insurance: �200.00
Vat: �100.00
TOTAL: �450.00(3days)=$881.00 USD
Note:The charges cannot be Deducted from your winnings, and also the charges are to be handled by you.This is in accordance with section 13(1)(n) of the National Gambling Act as adopted in 1993 and amended on 3RD July 1996 by the constitutional assembly.This is to protect winners and to avoid misappropriation of funds and win Situaitions.
Please respond to this email by making a selection from the three options above. Also attach a scanned copy of either your driver’s licence, international passport (photo page) or any other legally identifying document.
Send your response to indicate your option within the next 24hrs,because you only have 14 working days to claim this cheque and after this period, your cash prize will be deemed to have been forfeited by you and will be reused in the drawings of the next edition of the lottery.
Once again, Congratulations
Your urgent reply will be most welcome
Treat with dispatch,
Mr. Sweet Smith
Tel:+44-703-190-9145
Registered in England No 929027.
Registered Office: Link Place, BRIGHTON,
Sussex, BN1 7DX,ENGLAND,
Regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
� 2007 ScarLet Courier LTD.
——————————————————————————–
Yahoo! Answers - Get better answers from someone who knows. Try it now.
June 8th, 2007 at 8:17 pm
I JUST WANT TO SAY THAT IM SO HAPPY I WON THE LOTTERY.
BUT WHAT I DIDNT KNOW THIS WAS A BIG FAKE. HOW CAN PEOPLE GET AWAY WITH THIS. AT LEAST I DIDNT SEND IT IN WITH ALL MY INFO WHO KNOWS THEY MIGHT OF TOOK ALL MY MONEY FROM MY BANK. THERE HAS TO BE SOMETHING SOMEBODY CAN DO TO STOP THIS PERSON FROM SENDING OUT THESE PHONEY LOTTERY PAPERS. ALL I KNOW IOS I HOPE NOBODY SENDS IT IN.
BEWARE ALL???
June 9th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
Dear all,
I regrettably only won 815,960 Euros!!! I was advised that I won the 3rd caterory lottery, but hope to do better next year!
I am obviously sarcastic here, but curious enough to google the various stated companies and names listed on this. I noticed that the format of the hasn’t changed in the past few years. Referring to the letter received yesterday, I understand that underlined text only seems to change to offer “winners” a variance of their scam…
My agent is “Dr Paul Mario”. I found it a bit odd that a doctor handles lottery claims rather than spending time in a hospital saving lives and helping people get better!
On the good side, I find this site that actually informs people of such scams, provide advise and refersto other sites for information purposes. This obviously takes time and money (ironic isn’t it!), but it is great to find that there are still people that do care for others.
There are ways to make the scammers lives a bit more difficult as suggested on othe rsimilar sites; if you have received such communication via e-mail, take a digital picture of false information and send it back to the originator. Large size files will quickly fill their sites and it will most definately slow them down, if not crash their system. For this, you should first set-up a disposable mailing address. The amount of responses will likely be overwhelming and you should avoid using your personal e-mail address.
Thank you for your efforts Nikke! I will be broadcasting such “419 scam” with friends and family, after I tell them all I am now a millionnaire! (or getting closer).
Cheers
Stephane
June 11th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
I think the best thing to do with these letters is to send them onto the Spanish Lottery Legal Advice Service, i have checked there website and they request any of these scam letters to be sent onto them at:
If you receive fraudulent El Gordo material you can help the investigations of Loterías y Apuestas de Estado by sending a copy to the following address:
Loterías y Apuestas del Estado
Legal Advice Service
C/ Guzmán el Bueno nº 137
28003 Madrid
Spain
June 12th, 2007 at 10:29 am
Damn them all….you know its a scam but if like me you are financially embarassed…all the time!!…you have that little glimmer of hope in the back of your head. I knew in my heart of hearts that it was a scam but still, at a glance it looks professional, closer inspection does however show as others have pointed out that it is not official paper, it is not embossed and has just been printed off a computer as opposed to a professional printing press. Please people do not send off your personal details or copies of your passports as identity theft is becoming a big thing, who knows, you could be arrested the next time you are at the airport for gun running or drug dealing.
June 13th, 2007 at 2:01 am
I hav got this letter just 1 day ago and almost believ this stuppid scam.
I very greatfull for this site and call guys who knows website design to create
the same colored and ambisioused page in internet wich going to be crush this
f…. abusing joke !!!!
June 13th, 2007 at 8:59 am
I to received an award notification from International Lottery Commission Loteria Primitiva telling me I had been approved a lump sum payments of 615,810 euros. I had to contact Don. Pedro Perez the foreign service manager of Estrella Seguros S.A. for the processing and remittance of my winning money and I owed 10% of my winnings as part of their commission for acting on my behalf. The letter is signed Mrs Antonio Garce Peral, needless to say the quality of a letter that had been copied numerous times and asking for bank details made me a bit uneasy so I checked it out and I’m glad I did. What about the people out there with no access to a computer and are hard up for cash and think to spend a little to receive a lot is not a bad gamble! Its a scam don’t do it return it to the address listed above and hopefully someone will put a stop to this before these dishonest people make more money out of hard working people like ourselves.
June 13th, 2007 at 3:52 pm
I’ve just came from the phone where I spoke to Dr Carlos Malolo, he told me I had won 615,810.00 euro. People have to know i’ts a scam when they open the letter. I kept the very helpful Dr C on the line for 30 minutes so at least he wasen’t able to scam anyone for that time. How about we all ring him and keep him on the line as long as possible. I will ring him again over the next few days using differant names and reference numbers. It was the best fun today scaming Dr C. I gave wrong name, reference and batch numbers so he doesen’t know who he’s dealing with. Have fun with this a–hole and waste his time.
June 13th, 2007 at 9:24 pm
Excellent idea Gerry. I think that is what the Spamalot project (not the musical) does.
http://www.lindqvist.com/en/robot-taking-on-spammers
They keep the scammers busy by sending automated mails to them asking about this and that. How they must hate it.
June 14th, 2007 at 2:41 am
hola mi nombre es corisandra yo vivo en los estados unidos y resibi la misma carta de la que ablan
diciendo que abia ganado un premio de $766 3.52 million of dollars que me comunicara con MRalonzo carlos manager perpetual security & financial compania al tel 01134-680-902-058 fax 01134-911-877-119
se le pide alas autoridades que coresponda inbestigar este fraude
June 15th, 2007 at 7:00 pm
I represent a political prisoner in the USA, and he received a letter with notification, but he has no passport, bank, or ID other than state prison.
he wanted me to check into this; I don’t have a bank account and don’t want one.
Holla back anyone
June 16th, 2007 at 3:04 pm
HI This morning I received a letter from El Gordo la Primitiva bla bla bla!!!!! I thought it was real as i had been to spain and participated in a lottery but that was more than 5 years ago. Whilst looking at the letter and form i got suspicious as the stamp on it left no mark on the back of the letter (as real ones do!!!!!) Apart from that the logos, etc on the letter looked as if they were copied from somewhere and pasted on it but i phoned them just the same as 615,810 Euros seemed so good to me at the moment!!! The guy on the phone said i should send them the form with my bank account d