Pensioner loses life-savings in lotto scam

4:55pm Sunday 16th March 2008

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A PENSIONER has lost her entire life savings in a foreign lottery scam.

Joan Winters, 82, of Darlington was even told she should try and sell her house in order to claim her winnings.

Ms Winter paid out nearly £26,000 after phone calls and letters from abroad told her she had won £400,000 in a lottery.

She was told she could claim the money if she paid out for lawyers fees and taxes.

Durham police have warned that thousands of people have been targeted by the scam and they have already received dozens of complaints.

Ms Winter said: "They were saying, its going to be there in two or three weeks, and then youd get to the end there, oh well, weve hit another snag, the gaming commission want so much, or the tax people want so much."

When Ms Winter told them that she had no more money she was asked if she had any equity on her house.

She added: "I said, do you mean to tell me Ive got to sell it to the last brick to try and get what Im supposed to have won."

Inspector Geoff Smith of Durham police said thousands of leaflets arrive in crates at airports and are distributed across the country.

He said: "We become aware of them in Durham when people report it to us, but there are thousands of these things.

"Last weekend for example we received about 50 of these and numerous telephone calls about people receiving them in the post."