A VULNERABLE elderly man was conned out of his life savings by shameless thieves conducting a new email lottery scam.
The Poole man, who did not want to be identified, received an email telling him he had won £1.5 million on the Pepsi Cola Lottery.
He sent a cheque for £1,648 to supposedly cover clearance fees and VAT, as requested in the email, but soon realised he had lost his money.
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The vile thieves then took to trying to intimidate the man into parting with the same amount again, claiming they were owed a second instalment.
PC Faye Brooks of Poole police said: "It took a lot for this man to come forward and admit that he had sent away money.
"He has asked for the details of this scam to be released so that he can prevent others from being taken in by this trickery.
"The man refused to send the second instalment and that's when he started to receive phone calls and emails threatening him with legal action."
The email being circulated states that the recipient's address has been automatically entered into the Pepsi Lottery and that he or she has won £1.5m, but now must send £3,297 before receiving the prize.
It asks for payment to be sent in two instalments to two different people at an address in London - but the address given has a Glasgow postcode.
PC Brooks said there have been victims of the scam reported in America and Canada.
She said: "The thing that is so convincing about this scam is that it claims that Pepsi is working with HM Revenue and Customs to release the money.
"Anyone who receives an email purporting to be from the Pepsi Lottery should contact Consumer Direct on 08454 04 05 06."
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