Another postal lottery scam
I haven’t received a 419 in the post for a while and I was just thinking as much the other day. Lo and behold as if my mind was being read at that time I got one this morning.
It’s another lottery scam this time from Germany. From “State Lottery Agent BOESCHE” to be exact. It arrived by air mail and has a pre-paid air mail envelope included with which to send your “entry” back.
Included is the usual literature one would expect. Cover letter, participation certificate, glossy flyer etc.
What makes this one interesting is that the lottery itself is genuine it’s just that BOESCHE are agents and promise to enter you into the draw for a fee of course.
The fees in question range from €40 to €62.50. Also worth noting is those fees are per month so if you happen to send off your credit card number you can expect to be fleeced each each month.
As is usual with these things, while they provide you with ample payment methods to part with your cash, there are absolutely no terms and conditions attached. None, zip, nada. The only stipulation of any kind is a small subtext requiring your date of birth as “you are not allowed to enter until the age of 18″
If there is no small print then there is no guarantee that of your winnings or no guarantee that your credit card will not be maxed out either.
It is worth nothing what the New Zealand Ministry of Consumer Affairs have to say about these lottery propositions so I will quote what they have to say here:
There are several operators, mainly from European countries, that appear to offer New Zealand consumers the opportunity to purchase tickets in legitimate lotteries run in the United Kingdom, Germany and Canada, for example. These operators ask consumers to send funds in advance (or credit card information) which will be used by the operator to purchase tickets in these lotteries. Consumers usually don’t receive the tickets but instead receive statements providing information about the prize draw and any “winnings”.
The concerns are:
- that the ticket prices are far higher than face value of the actual lottery ticket price,
- information from the operator may not state you become part of a syndicate (or the size of that syndicate)
- the consumer has no information on whether the funds they are sending are applied to purchasing tickets, or
- the consumer has no information that the small “winnings” they may receive from time to time are from actual prize payouts and not from other consumers ticket purchase funds.
Beware! If you get one just throw it in the bin.
got same letter this more in ireland , thnxs for the scam alert
You’re welcome Martin.
I figured it wa bogus and i guess it was from the same SKL boesche thing – nair mail, prepaid envelope etc. etc and i am in Ireland too!!
thanks for the update! be warned people!
Got one of these today in the mail and did a search right away, I’m an Irish citizen living in Stockholm… Thank goodness for the internet! (and your article).
I´ve got white-red-blue envelope as well, here in Slovakia. They try all over Europe, good to know about such S**t, not to step in…
I’m not quite sure JP Boesche is a huckster…His setup seems 2 complex..I like the German step up klass system ie. the longer u stay in the higher the payouts and more prizes….JPB did’nt dream this up on his own the NKL/SKL did. I wish the USA and my home state of CA had the brains 2 devise a German like lottery system. They also hosted a TV show connection W/ Gunther Jach as host…Also JPB took this Bus. ovewr frm his Father whose Grand Dad also ran it.. I’ve used both NKL/SKL thru Boesche over a number of cycles using both MO and Credit Card 3 pay and when I finally cancled payments (after the US Dollar fell dramatically) did’nt have anybody or otherwise use my card info or drain/siphon of my account(s)…Boesche does issue u ticket #’s and does send u the drawing sheet every month (at the end ot that particluar Klass/Class) Which can be checked against the official on line results..I have won small amts. which have been faithfully deducted against a new ticket price 4 the following class ( the rules state that a winning number is withdrawn from participating in a following class after being drawn as a winner). I’ve put a bit of money (not a fortune)into it.
Thanks for your comment Roy. It is interesting to hear that you have had some small success with it. However I would still urge caution and I think the advice from the New Zealand Ministry of Consumer affairs is worth heeding.
This is a scam for sure!
Im in sweden as well and how they got my name and adress i dont know, I for sure did not give them my info. Same red/white/blue airmail envelope paid in bulk. NO rules what so ever. The info supplied in the letter was not even consistent, one of the papers said one thing and another something completely different.
They claim to be a goverment backed company but cannot afford a website or proper emails? I think not…
The minimum I would have to pay boeshe to be part of this is 50€/month (quite a heavy fee), and that was just the base ‘lottery’, if i wanted to i could pay them even more for several ‘sidebets’/joker lotterys. I bet that the ‘winnings’ Roy mensioned just was a small percentage of that monthly fee and he still had to input money, eg. a loss.
Cant believe some idiots fall for these tricks. A scam is a scam is a scam. Some people does try just about everything to trick you into giving away your money. Just have some common sense and STOP feeding these fuckers. YOU WILL _NOT_ WIN WHATEVER YOU DO!
Got one in my mail box this morning just as I have been recieving for several years now.
Am from Kenya and I too wonder how they ever got my name and postal address.
Whether Boesche will actualy buy the ticket and enter you in the draw or not is irrelevant, whether it’s a true lottery or a scum, just don’t fall for it. I go by the brobability that there’s a greater chance of being striked by lightening than winning the lottery. Find some good use for the 50€/ or just buy enough icecream for the year.
Am gratefull for this site though and for the government agencies who are now enlightening the public.
Thanks for the alert guys. I am from Palawan,Philippines and got the same air mail from Boesche just yesterday.the funny thing was they have it mailed to a boarding house i used to live way back in college more than a decade ago. i guess 15 yrs ago..are the people behind this are real human beings? how come they afford to have a business as bogus as this and hope to extract the hard earned money of others?
They are sending these to Mexico too. My grandmother received the same letter just a few days ago. The letter was actually adressed to my grandfather, who died something like 5 years ago.
I have received the same SKL Boesche lottery also. I live in El Salvador