Lottery Fraud

[Gromit]

There have been a few instances of shop owners / workers scanning winning tickets and saying it was just £10.

// A shopkeeper from Gravesend has been found guilty of trying to con a lottery syndicate out of nearly £80,000 in winnings. Imran Pervais, 26, misled the winning group into thinking they had won £10 when in fact they had scooped £79,887 after matching five balls and the bonus ball.

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A Manchester shop worker has been jailed after fraudulently trying to claim the £1m lottery winnings of an elderly woman.

Farrakh Nizzar, 30, of Woodlands Road, Crumpsall, Greater Manchester, told Maureen Holt, 78, she had won nothing when he scanned her ticket.

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A newsagent stole a winning lottery ticket taken to her shop by a loyal customer ~ and her husband tried to claim the £156,000 prize.

Shopkeeper Anne Jeevarajah, 38, kept the lucky ticket when winner Gwyn Badham-Davies, 73, took it to her store to see if he had won.
The cheat checked it on her machine at the family's shop in Hingham, near Watton, Norfolk, but did not tell him he had won a small fortune.
Her crooked husband, Alfred Jeevarajah, 45, then brazenly rang up lottery organisers Camelot and told them he had won. //

1. Should this way of checking tickets (and paying out) be banned? The numbers are available on TV, websites and newspapers.

2. Are the sentences long enough? A lot of money is attempted to be stolen.

[heathfield]

Even if someone says you haven't won and tears your winning ticket up, they could later claim to Camelot that it was done accidentally. If I'm told I haven't won, I always ask for my ticket back. (Just in case!!)

[Mamyalynne]

write your name and address on the back the minute you buy it, makes it a good deal safer.

[China Doll]

I never take my ticket to the shop unless I'm sure I won something. (Which reminds me, I need to check my ticket from tuesday).

[youngmafbog]

Imran Pervais, Farrakh Nizzar, Alfred Jeevarajah.

good old British names I see.

Why do many of you call people having tickets read for them lazy. You have no clue as to why they asked the shop. Maybe they cant read well or are a bit thick to work out the combination. Doesn't mean they should not be able to buy a ticket or be conned.

[Everhelpful]

Just do as Mamya says,Simple.

[anotheoldgit]

youngmafbog

/// Imran Pervais, Farrakh Nizzar, Alfred Jeevarajah. ///

/// good old British names I see. ///

Gravesend, Greater Manchester, and Norfolk, are all in England

[Mick-Talbot]

Surely Camelot would receive some sort of alert when a sizable winning ticket is
checked at the shop?

You would have to be more clued up than these idiots to get away with it.

[Just-Jude]

Alfred sounds English. Wasn't he a king or something.

[emmie]

whilst i agree it's best to check your own tickets, this system is open to fraud. I don't do it now, but quite honestly i think that my chance of winning are zero, bad luck that's all

[tara20]

Simple solution - a display for the customer. Then you could see for yourself if you'd won or not, and how much. Large prizes don't have to be shown other than a notice to that effect.

Check outs have a display so that the customer can see the prices, so why not the lottery?