FAKE LOTTARY IN SPAIN,MADRID

[meri]

HELLO,
Recently I have got mail saying I won a prize.You all know the story.Could somebody tell me if this is fake:
REF:MERSIHA DELALIC




With reference to the above file number via instruction received from our principal (affiliate Bank) be hereby notified of a fund in your favour .
To perfect your claim herein, it is mandatory that you forward a scanned copy of your International Passport and or Drivers' license enabling us identify you as beneficiary to the fund.( WINNING AMOUNT £2,800,000.00)


Note: that upon receipt of the above will immediately file for the release of your funds with authority concerned here. Also confirm your email and account information and as we will in our future correspondence send to your email your account information with our bank which is termed as "highly confidential" by our accounts Department.

We request you to treat all our correspondence as urgent.

Yours faithfully,
JOHN LARRY (BANCO SANTANDER,MADRID SPAIN )
Accounts (Int. Remittance Dept).


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[Sarah]

Hi Meri, and welcome to Fraud Watchers. I'm afraid the letter you posted is indeed a scam. Some of the major red flags include the fact that legitimate lotteries do not notify winners by email, you cannot win a lottery if you did not enter/buy a ticket.
There is no such thing as an international lottery. The complexity of gaming/gambling laws from country to country prevents such a thing.

If you answer the email, after one or two email exchanges with the so-called "lottery officials" or "claims agent," perhaps accompanied by some official looking but fake documents, you'll be asked to pay fees for "taxes" or "handling" or some other reason. This is the scam - you pay the fees and never see any winnings, mainly because there are none to see.

My recommendation is to delete this email, as well as any other lotto emails you may receive in the future. You will be safe from the scammer if you block/ignore his emails and requests for your phone number. He will soon stop bothering you and move on in search for other victims.