A GRANDMOTHER was targeted by a lottery scam which tried to fool her into handing over a £2,000 processing fee to pick up a £825,000 cash prize.

People’s Postcode Lottery player Sheena Wood, 77, of Pyecombe, admitted she was excited when she received a letter purporting to be from the charity.

She soon realised the note was a fake which played on her membership to another registered lottery game.

Mrs Wood said: “I phoned up as I had never won anything so thought I should check it. I was told in order to release the funds I would have to pay a processing fee of £1,900.

“I was so angry, I realised it was a scam at once. I questioned the man and asked him where he’d got my details and he put the phone down.

“I can’t believe people try and take advantage of people like this. I worry that someone could easily be fooled so I want everyone to know of the dangers.”

The letter, signed by ‘president’ Baron Wheels, claims to be from a “Government licensed Lottery Service Agency” and asks the reader to contact Anthony Stan, foreign service manager of company UK Security Solution.

Mrs Wood reported the incident to the police and a Sussex Police spokesman said: “Details of this particular case have been passed to the Action Fraud organisation and the woman who received the letter has done absolutely the right thing in not responding to it.

“The best approach to dealing with such mail is to put it in the bin.”

The force launched Operation Signature to tackle fraud against vulnerable victims including scam mail in March after it found there was a gap in reporting, recording processes and recognising scam mail receivers as victims of crime.

A spokeswoman for the People’s Postcode Lottery said membership details were not released to third parties and scams were rare.

She said: “Illegitimate organisations will attempt to use our brand to gain access to information. We take such matters very seriously.

“These communications should be ignored.

“Legitimate lotteries will not under any circumstances request a payment in order to receive your ‘winnings’. If you are suspicious contact the customer service team on 0808 109 8765.”

When The Argus contacted Mr Stan he refused to answer questions about the scam and hung up.