Urgent warning over emails ‘sent by’ world’s biggest lottery winner Edwin Castro promising $800,000 giveaway
ALL email users should watch out for a scam e-mail supposedly sent by Powerball winner Edwin Castro promising cash.
An unsuspecting victim has issued an urgent warning after receiving an e-mail from a fraudster pretending to be the lucky jackpot winner.
Castro became the world’s richest lottery winner after scooping a jaw-dropping $2.04billion in the California Lottery.
The scammer promises to give $800,000 to “some selected individuals as donation.”
The e-mail, which comes from a dodgy-looking e-mail address starts: “Attention please. I am Edwin Castro the winner of the world’s greatest jackpot in a national lottery $2.05 bullion (£1.79 billion).”
He then proceeds to include a link supposedly to a Guinness World Record page.
The scammer continues: “I am giving the sum $800,000,00 (Eight Hundred Thousand Dollars) each to some selected individuals as donation.
“You have been luckily selected via mail system to receive the sum of $800,000,00 (Eight Hundred Thousand Dollars).”
The e-mail then urges the user to contact “Mr Raymond Bradson”- a name that has been linked to other scams according to reviews on Google- with the donation code and personal details.
It ends with “Bradson’s” contact information followed by: “Best regards, Edwin Castro.”
An unsuspecting victim who received the suspicious e-mail thankfully did not fall for the scam and now wants to warn others who might see something similar in their mailbox.
They told The Sun Online: “I was mortified – I knew immediately this sounded too good to be true, but it still had me tempted to click, especially with the cost of living crisis.
“Edwin’s been all over the news – so for a single moment it all seemed very believable.
He went on: “I told a friend about it – and he assured me it was a scam. I was so glad I double-checked.
“What if someone else less cautious or tech-savvy had received it, like my elderly parents?
“These scammers are shameless – playing off our desperation.”
The real Castro made headlines across the world after scooping the biggest jackpot in US history.
But he has been embroiled in a legal lawsuit and was served legal papers at his $25million home after a man claimed he stole the winning Powerball ticket.
The suit was first filed in February in Alhambra Superior Court by Jose Rivera, who claimed that he purchased the ticket at Joe’s Service Center in Altadena the day before the November 8, 2022, drawing.
Rivera alleges that he was the one to buy the ticket from Joe’s Service Center in Pasadena, and subsequently lost it.
The California Lottery Commission has confirmed it is assisting police in an investigation of the winning ticket.
However, City of Pasadena Public Information Officer Lisa Derderian said as far as the police are concerned, it is only classified as petty theft because the lottery ticket cost just $10.
Meanwhile, the gas station owner who sold the winning ticket – banking himself $1million in the process – has admitted he has not seen CCTV footage that proves Edwin Castro bought it.
Joe Chahayed, told the US Sun last week: “It’s bad news [the lawsuit], the state lottery took everything the day they came for the press conference.
“I have not seen it because I had no reason to look at it before.
“The lottery told me the person who came by and bought the ticket is the person who won it.
“I know Castro bought a ticket around that time,” he continued, and nodding when shown a photograph of the Powerball winner.”