I HAVE just won £100,000 on the European Lottery, I can hardly contain my excitement, and you know the strange thing about the win, I don't even remember buying a ticket, but never mind it must be right, as I had a letter to tell me that there was no mistake and I had definitely won.

The letter I received was from a chap with a strange sounding name probably very common in Central Africa. I also noticed that the directors of this company, who are going to help me collect my winnings, also have African names.

In the letter I received, they have given me lots of advice and options on how to collect the winnings, and they included a blank form to help with the collection.

All I have to do is give my bank account number, sort code, bank address, my full address, phone numbers, place of birth, date off birth, date of marriage, number of children, etc etc etc.

Strange isn't it, how they need all that information, when all they need to do is send me a cheque, and I will take it down to the bank?

Well, I am no mug, I know that people do not give you money from lotteries that you don't even remember entering, and the reason for asking all the information is to gain as much information on my identity to allow them to remove as much money as they can from my bank account.

These people send out thousands of these letters, and most of them are I'm sure discarded, but some people fill in the information requested in the hope that a cheque will be coming their way.

Well, folks, life is not like this, there are the odd secret millionaires, I've seen them on the box, and they are quite legal and well meaning people, but this lot who send you letters out of the blue, and ask you to send your reply to a post box, or ask you to phone a telephone number starting 09 at a rate of £1.50 per minute with a minimum call time of seven minutes, please don't be tempted, they are all scams, and it will cost you money.

If it sounds too good to be true, then it is. Throw it in the bin, or send it back to the address given in a sealed envelope, returned to sender with no stamp on it.

Monty Montgomery

A lucky winner!