Scammer posing as Powerball winner Edwin Castro promises $800K ‘donation’ of record-breaking $2B prize
An online scammer posing as the world’s richest Powerball winner is promising their unsuspecting victims hundreds of thousands of dollars in exchange for personal information.
The fraudster slipped into random email inboxes Friday impersonating Edwin Castro, the California man who claimed the record-setting $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot earlier this year.
In the jolty-worded email, the con artist claims he wants to give $800,000 to “some selected individuals as donation” who are willing to share “personal details.”
“Attention Please, I am Edwin Castro the winner of the world’s greatest jackpot in a national lottery $2.05 billion (£1.79 billion),” reads the suspicious email obtained by The US Sun.
In a seemingly desperate effort to prove they are Castro, the scammer includes a link to the Guinness World Records page detailing Castro’s record-shattering lottery win.
“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 scammer then urged the recipient to contact “Mr. Raymond Bradson,” a name tied to other email-based schemes whose wording closely resembles the one pretending to be Castro.
“Contact Mr. Raymond Bradson with your donation code and personal contact details,” the message ends.
“Best regards, Edwin Castro.”
One of the scam recipients told The US Sun that he nearly followed up with the con artist until his friend reassured him that the promise was too good to be true.
“Edwin’s been all over the news — so for a single moment it all seemed very believable,” the man, who did not provide his name, told the outlet.
“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 California Lottery told The Post it was aware of the swindle attempts and is urging players to be wary of schemers offering free money.
“This is not the first time somebody’s taking advantage of a big winners name,” spokesperson Carolyn Becker said.
“If it doesn’t seem right, it probably isn’t. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”
To avoid falling victim to a scam, the California Lottery reminds players that there’s “absolutely no way” to win a lottery prize without playing a lottery game, to never give out sensitive information to anyone promising lottery cash and to be alert of urgent solicitations promising lottery winnings.
The agency has diligently stood behind Castro as he has battled accusations that he was not the rightful owner of the winning ticket when he cashed it in earlier this year and used it to buy a $25.5M Hollywood Hills mansion.
Jose Rivera filed a lawsuit against the new billionaire claiming that he bought the ticket, but that it was stolen off his table by another man — Urachi “Reggie” Romero — who told him it was a “loser.”
Rivera has demanded that the state Lottery Commission release video footage of the winning ticket being sold, but the agency has claimed it already made the necessary checks to ensure Castro was the rightful winner before awarding the prize.
