Anybody else win $800,000 in El Gordo Spanish sweepstake lottery?

Too bad about the mix-up. I hope I can still collect. I’ll buy a cool car and a hamburger, no! a cheeseburger…

Damn! I never get the really cool scams…

You could double that money by helping a certain Nigerian I know! He emails me all the time. Let me know and I will forward it to you.

Mmmkay… where’s the advance-fee part? I mean, we know it’s a scam, but the mechanism is unclear. Presumably that part of the scam takes place after one has contacted the ‘designated agent’.

If I was going to respond, I’d set up a new, empty bank accout for the purpose.

It’s a scam. For the explanation, you can go to the official Spanish lottery site. Click on the “Otros Avios” button on the left hand side and then click on the British Flag for the information in English.

I’m wondering if the percentage going to the agent is going to be asked for up front. (Or they could ask for my account info in order to drain my accound, as you seemed to imply.)

I decided to reply, stating (truthfully) that the collection form was not attached. I’m not sure what I’ll do if they ask me to fax it–is there some trick to that? I’ll offer to scan it and email it, thus avoiding the phone company.

I’m curious to see where this will lead.

I won the exact lottery in Amterdam [sic] Holland! Wow, what luck.

So I was in the ball park. Thanks for the link. Now I have to get the false documents to send in to help prosecution.

In addition to the notes on the linked page above about being asked for processing fees, my WAG is that one would be asked for the routing and account information for their “norminated account,” which would allow the scammers to pull any funds in the account.

And here is the Snopes page.