By Liz Fowler

A NORTH-EAST pensioner is facing a bleak Christmas after being defrauded of a six-figure sum in a worldwide lottery fraud.

A number of others have also been deceived into parting with significant sums, police revealed yesterday, as they issued a warning designed to prevent yet more people being taken in.

Grampian Police have received five separate reports of attempts to con people into thinking they had won the Canadian lottery.

“We have been made aware of several incidents recently where elderly residents have received telephone calls or mail stating that they have won large sums of money from the Canadian lottery,” said Inspector Phil Roberts, force community safety officer.

“Unfortunately this is totally false and the sole purpose of the telephone calls or mail is to swindle people out of large sums of money.

“In order to obtain their alleged winnings from the Canadian lottery, these people are asked to part with money, which it is claimed will be used as an administration fee to release the prize.

“However the winnings never arrive and repeat requests for more money to cover ongoing administration fees are made, often resulting in the victim being defrauded over several months.

“Several of the recent incidents have seen elderly people deceived into parting with significant sums of money, with one case amounting to six figures.

“The Canadian lottery scheme is a well devised worldwide fraud, and fraudsters who contact potential victims are very convincing.”

Under no circumstances, he urged, should anybody receiving a telephone call or mail from the scheme send off any money.

Police stress it is only one of many scams, often originating abroad, and potential criminals are as likely to use the internet as the telephone or post.

While the approaches may vary, all feature requests to transfer funds or to divulge confidential financial information, and promise a later non-existent reward.

Inspector Roberts said, “No genuine person or organisation would ask you to do these things, so people should ignore such requests and report them to the police.”

Anyone with information relating to these crimes should contact Grampian police on 0845 600 5 700 or via Crime- stoppers on 0800 555 111.