Friday, July 22, 2005

World-wide lottery scam busted with USPS help

Spanish authorities along with the FBI and US Postal Service have busted a world-wide lottery scam. More than 300 people were arrested.

The group allegedly sent around six million letters annually to Europe, United States, Canada, Australia, Japan and the Arabian Peninsula and managed to con some 20,000 people last year by telling them they had won prizes in the Spanish lottery but needed to forward a certain amount of money before they could collect their winnings.

Police estimate the gang earned more than US$120 million ($202.2 million) annually in the scams and moved it about through more than 400 bank accounts.

No word on whether the gang used commemoratives on the letters they sent.

Read the whole story, click here.
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posted by Don Schilling at 11:57 AM