THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AFP) — Dutch and US prosecutors said yesterday they had cracked down on a multimillion-euro scam in which hundreds of thousands of victims mailed money to The Netherlands after being told they had won the lottery.

In a simultaneous investigation carried out with the US Department of Justice (DOJ), Dutch authorities raided 10 locations across the Netherlands on Wednesday and yesterday, probing six companies believed to be behind the elaborate worldwide con.

Millions of personally addressed letters are thought to have been sent since 2012 to people in the United States, Britain, France, Italy, Japan and Switzerland, claiming the recipients had won the lottery or a brand new car, or had been awarded some cash.

The victims were asked to send between 20 and 45 euros (or US$15 – US$55 in the US) in pre-addressed envelopes to PO boxes in the Netherlands supposedly to cover the cost of dispatching the windfall. Around 300 mailboxes were used in the scam.

“It is assumed that the total fraud amount runs up to the millions,” the Dutch fiscal and intelligence division said in a statement.

The DOJ in New York said it believed that American victims alone had mailed some US$18 million (16 million euros) annually through the post in the four-year con which targeted the elderly and vulnerable.

US officials have now launched legal proceedings against two of the companies and their Dutch owner Erik Dekker, 54, of Langbroek, south-east of Amsterdam.

The six Dutch companies are suspected of emptying the mailboxes, keeping part of the cash as a fee and then depositing the rest in bank accounts which have now been frozen.

Dutch officials said they had seized about 500,000 euros in cash in the raids, along with watches, artworks and cars, including a Porsche.

US Attorney Robert Capers for the eastern district of New York said the suspects had taken money from thousands of elderly and vulnerable victims in Brooklyn and across the United States.

US authorities and their Dutch partners would “track down and stop the schemes wherever they lead”, he added.

A hearing has been scheduled in the case in a Brooklyn court on July 18 as US authorities seek to bar the suspect Dutch companies from using the US postal system, and intercept any mail and return it.