I received a letter saying that I won $715,810.00 in a lottery in Spain.
I called the number given in Spain to contact the person who was supposed to verify I am the winner and send the money, his name is Richard Lopez. First three weird things:
1) The number is a cell phone (??) I could recognize it is since I am from Spain (but still not too weird, it's ok, year you know...)
2) The guy has a strong African accent and after 3 min. Speaking in Spanish he prefers to switch to English (I am not racist and I didn't know anything about 419 frauds, so I still think it's ok...)
3) I called him at 9 - 10pm and he answers and asks for my info as if it was 8am... Kind of weird also, but...
He asks me to fax him my bank info. I do it. He calls me back and says that the bank (in Spain!) needs to talk to me... Ok, he gives me the number and, guess what, it's a cell phone also!!! A bank? Come-on! So it starts smelling the scam...
But, that's not the end; I call the bank and, more weird things, the person who answers:
1) He answers directly in English: "how can I help you?" In Spain? A bank answering the phone in English? Please!!! I am from Spain (born and raised), and that simply doesn't happen. If you ask, they can maybe find someone who speaks English but they don't answer the phone in English...
2) Guess what, he also have the SAME strong African accent!!! What a coincidence, don't you think so? I guess they are hiring Nigerian people in every single Spanish company... By the way, the accent was so strong that sometimes I couldn't even understand what they were saying...
3) This one is the best: when my "contact" gave me the number I said: "well, I will call tomorrow" (since it was around 8 - 9 pm in Spain). He says: "no, you can call now"."Are you sure?", I replied. "Oh, yes" he answered. Ok, I call the bank and they answer!!! It is so improbable that it is funny! But, remember, I was calling a cell phone so I guess the bank has a 24/7 agent answering the phone wherever he is...
However, I decide to talk to the "bank agent" as if everything was normal... He tells me that in order to get the money (that of course will never come) I have to pay a transfer fee and some taxes (total: $1,550.00)... Here it is!!! Here is the scam! Of course, I didn't do it...
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