Actor lends voice to scam warning
Tuesday 24th February 2009, 11:20AM GMT.
Television’s John Challis, who lives on the south Shropshire border, has been raising the alarm of lottery scams.
Mr Challis, who famously portrayed Boycie on Only Fools and Horses, featured on BBC’s Watchdog last night after he was targeted.
The feature on the programme was about scams which write to people telling them that they have won anything from £100,000 to more than £1,000,000.
Recipients have to send a form back including personal details, such as bank accounts. The Wigmore actor, who also starred in the Green, Green Grass, received one such letter.
A spokesman from Watchdog today said: “Mr Challis was so shocked to receive the letter that he got in touch with Watchdog to help warn others out there not to fall for such scams.
“Unfortunately, many people do. They get sucked in by the letters and money is often taken from their accounts or they send it willingly in the hope of receiving the lottery winnings.
“The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) attempts to keep on top of the ever changing scams dropping through people’s letterboxes.
“As part of their Scams Awareness Month, the OFT has been placing yellow wheelie bins at local libraries. The idea is that every time you get a scam letter through the post, you chuck it in this bin.
It is intended to remind people to be wary of these letters and lets the OFT know exactly how the scammers are operating.”
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Strange how this happens on an almost daily basis but doesn’t receive any attention until a ‘celebrity’ speaks out.
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I get between 3 and 6 of these scams per day on the internet.
I also get e mails for Viagra and penis enlargement and bad breath remedies.
I just want to understand – How do they know?
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