A LOTTERY scam using a fake address in London’s Canary Wharf business district has swept the country. Now trading standards officials in East London are issuing public warnings tonight about bogus callers asking unsuspecting target victims for their bank details

By Mike Brooke

A LOTTERY scam using a fake address in London’s Canary Wharf business district is sweeping Britain.

Now trading standards officials in East London are issuing public warnings tonight about bogus callers asking unsuspecting target victims for their bank details.

The scammers are using various lottery names such as Euromillions’ to contact people to tell them they have won money.

They ask for bank account details, giving the name of “UK Bond Security” claiming to have its offices in Canary Wharf—but in reality most likely abroad.

NO WIN

“These scams only work because people respond to them,” says a Tower Hamlets trading standards warning.

“If you haven’t entered a lottery, you can’t have won something from it.

“All they are after are your bank details for identify fraud purposes.”

The authority is advising anyone receiving these calls never to send cash to a stranger using a money transfer service, and beware of deals or opportunities that seem too good to be true.

“If it seems too good to be true—then it is too good to be true,” added the statement.

NO TRANSFER

The authority is also advising the public never to use transfer services to pay for online auction purchases or send money to pay for taxes or fees on foreign lottery winnings’.

Other on-line scams currently include fake job offers, which ask for money upfront for travel or expenses.

People can also be offered unusually low priced goods, cash upfront, which are never delivered, or invited to join investment opportunities’ and dubious online money-making schemes.

Tower Hamlets Trading Standards are appealing for anyone receiving scam offers to contact them by email direct or by phone: 020-7364 5008.