Lottery syndicates winning ticket stolen
05/12/2009 11:01:47
Four co-workers at a school board in Toronto, Canada are each finally $1.5 million richer after they finally received their lottery winnings after five years. The reason it has taken them so long to get their money is because the lottery syndicate’s winning ticket was stolen by the owner of the store where the ticket was checked. The store owner waited six months then claimed the $5.4 million Lotto 6/49 jackpot for himself.
In 2005, roughly a year after buying a winning Lotto 6/49 lottery ticket two members of the winning lottery syndicate were discussing their bad luck which theses particular six lottery numbers and decided to see if they had ever won. They checked their lottery numbers and would you believe it? Their six Lotto 6/49 numbers had won the jackpot around a year earlier.
The lottery syndicate were immediately suspicious of each other and even hired private detectives to investigate one another. After much head scratching the lottery syndicate members figured out that it was the lottery store clerk that had defrauded them of their millions.
The lottery syndicate informed the authorities and eventually they got their $5.4 million plus an additional $741,000 which the money would have earned in interest, from store owner Hafiz Malik, who had his home, bank account, investment account and three vehicles seized to repay the stolen lottery winnings. During a statement on Friday at court hearing in Toronto Malik pleaded guilty to theft and could face up to 10 years in jail.
We hear lottery news stories like this frequently, of stolen lottery tickets being cashed and the real winners facing losing their lottery windfall. There are a few ways to ensure that your lottery tickets don’t get stolen with the most obvious way being to sign all lottery tickets when you buy them. That way nobody can cash them in if they do win. The best way to make sure your lottery tickets don’t get stolen is to buy tickets online, which you can do here at World Lottery News.
Written by Kath C
Page Last Updated: 02/02/2010 09:41:47
