CA Lotto Scam (how much, purchasing, store)

[bayarea-girl]

Did anyone catch the Dateline special about how people get scammed out of their lotto winnings by the attendants behind the counter? Once people scratch their tickets the attendants would check to see if the player is a winner and if they were the attendants would tell them they didn't win when they really did. Then the attendants would make up some bogus excuse and claim the earnings. CA has been cracking down on this and more and more self scanners are appearing where lotto tickets are sold so that individuals can see for themselves if they won or not. The scammers usually do jail time.

I didn't know such a thing was happening.

[happ]

That was a fascinating expose & really opened my eyes to how much cheating the store clerks are doing. I'm glad the people were arrested & have lost their licenses to sell lotto tickets

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

Wow, amazing. And I have lost every time I played. maybe I really was a winner after all.

[Rhenzanite]

Honestly, I'm not surprised at all. I was a manager at a convenience store for 2 years and they pay their employees jack... plus in my experience (it may not be for all stores) the people that are hired there as clerks aren't exactly shining examples of human beings. They get paid a pittance and are constantly looking for ways to compensate themselves because of that. Stolen coffee, stolen lottery tickets, stolen beer/cigarettes, giving things to friends who then save it for them later (so it looks like they're going through the motions) etc etc.

It was a daily struggle for me to keep track of all the things employees stole.

[Lovehound]

I don't see why people can't look at their own tickets and figure out for themselves whether they won or lost. After all, the convenience store clerk isn't exactly a genius or they'd be working at a better job. If the clerk can figure it out then you can too.

Read the instructions. Decide for yourself if your ticket is a winner. If you've won enough money to be worth stealing, bring a friend along as a witness when you go to collect your prize.

[bayarea-girl]

Lovehound, a lot of the ticket scams did not have self scanners and were scratch tickets. So only the clerks would know if the ticket was a winner or looser. The scanners were not visible to all but the clerks. It was an interesting and eye opening piece.

[Lovehound]

Well truth be known I haven't bought a scratcher in several years. I've probably bought only 2-3 in my whole life. I'm not even a big player of the Lotto although I have on occasion. I enjoyed running office Lotto pools because I thought we had a better chance of winning. We didn't.

If the scratchers are like Lotto tickets, sign the back and print your name (or at least initial it), then demand the ticket back from the clerk even if it's a loser. Throw it away yourself at home.

I wonder if the clerk could tell you that it was a $5 winner when it was really $500 or something, then pocket the difference...

[bayarea-girl]

Lovehound, that is exactly what the Dateline report suggested people do. I don't play the lotto so didn't know any scams were even possible and from the report it seems like too many people don't know what is happening either.

[Lovehound]

There's another scam involving Lotto and "illegal aliens." The claim is that they're illegal and can't collect their prize, so they want to split it with you and let you collect the full amount. They want you to withdraw cash from your bank and pay them in exchange for their "winning" ticket.

The "winning" ticket is forged in one way or another, usually involving simply purchasing the winning numbers on the next day and then altering the ticket date.

Like all get rich quick schemes it requires a greedy sucker.

[uggshelf]

sounds not good

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