Surprise, surprise: You’ve won the lottery!
Today I was informed that I’d won more than $800,000 in the Euromillones Loteria International SA.
This came as quite a surprise, for quite a few reasons.
Normally, I’m informed of such good news by email, usually from someone in Nairobi or some such place.
But today’s news came by post. The letter was addressed to me and came from Madrid in Spain. That surprised me.
I also was surprised because long ago I gave up trying to win the Big One, and it’s been years since I bought a lottery ticket. So I hadn’t entered the Euromillones Loteria International SA.
I was surprised, because I’d always thought that you actually had to buy a ticket to win a lottery.
I also was surprised because the lottery was conducted from 25,000 names from the United States, Canada, Asia, New Zealand, Europe and Africa on December 5, 2006.
I wasn’t in any of those countries on December 5, 2006, or in the preceding 12 months. I was in Ballina, in New South Wales, in Australia. So the fact that my name was drawn out in one of those countries, when I hadn’t been in that country, plus the fact that I hadn’t bought a ticket but had still managed to win, left me feeling totally surprised.
But never mind all those coincidences. To claim my money, all I needed to do was ring a number in Madrid, or fill out the accompanying form.
The form asked me to fill in details such as my date of birth, my phone numbers, my sex, my marital status, my fax number and my nationality (tricky that last one: Maybe when they find out I’m Australian and hadn’t bought a ticket, they might disqualify me).
The form also asked me to fill in the name of my bank, its address, and my account number.
It also asked me to fill in details of my next-of-kin, their address, marital status, phone numbers and fax number.
Actually, I’m not supposed to be telling anyone of this good fortune of mine, until my claim has been processed. This is all ‘part of our security protocol’, the letter said.
I wonder why?
February 12th, 2007 at 3:27 pm
I thought you might be interested in the following email I sent to Australia Post and their reply.
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Subject: Customer Service Centre - NSW/ACT
Enquiry: REPORTING MAIL FRAUD - IN AUSTRALIA
Please read this news entry and follow the “I wonder why?” link at the bottom - where You will notice that the most recent victims are Australians -in NSW.
In the U.S. victims are told to take the return address envelope to their local post office and report it so it can be investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspector.
For a follow up for our Ballina.Info readers and to advise correctly - does Aus Post provide a similar service? What is your policy on
this and what do you advise victims? - or if you have info on your site can you let me know and I can link to it. Thanks
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Thank you for your enquiry
If you receive any mail that you believe is criminal in nature we suggest you contact your local police for assistance as Australia Post is only a mail carrier with no law enforcement or criminal investigation powers.
Regards,
Michael
ph 13 13 18
February 12th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
Thanks for that LouiseC.
Just as a matter of interest, on the day I received my letter, my sister and mother (who live at different addresses) also received one each.
My sister sussed out immediately that it was a scam, and was so incensed that she rang the local paper to make it public.