Store clerk tries to hijack lottery customer’s winning scratch ticket 

I honestly think once you get caught for fraud you should never ever be able to sell lottery tickets ..

If it's over $100 I always take it to a retail supermarket. People that run gas stations are shady AF.

Happened to me...I knew what he was trying to do...watched him try to take my winners, flipped out on him, took all my tickets back, called the cops and CT lottery...they shut him down immediately

He needs to go to jail.

I used to work as a cashier at a7-11 in my undergrad days. Sold a lady a 10k winner. She came in the a few weeks later and gave me a 200$ tip for selling it to her. Never once was I dumb enough to think of short changing the customers.

Once an established business is caught doing this, they should be banded against selling lottery tickets period.

That clerk would have been going to the hospital if he refused to give me back my ticket, but you should understand how the game works and how much you’ve won before having them scan it for confirmation

I had an "old" Christmas scratcher ticket a number of years back that was a $50 winner (not huge, but a decent amount) that had slipped down in my purse and I had found it later. I knew it was older so checked the dates to be sure it was not out of date before taking it in to cash it. It was still within the game dates so not too late to cash it (thank goodness). Went in to a gas station to cash it and the clerk was all "this is old, you can't cash this". Yes, I know it is a Christmas one but I checked and it is still in date. She retorted back that it was not in date and I would not be able to cash it. I asked her why doesn't she just check it on the machine and she was all "it is a waste of time, it is old." So, I gave up and said, "ok give me the ticket back then." She refused. Told her she can't keep it, it is my ticket so finally she huffily checked it and gave me the $50. I am sure she thought she could convince me the game was out of date so she could pocket the $50. I now check every ticket on the lottery app on my phone and I write the amount won on the ticket so there is no confusion. I add up how much I have won and what I should be receiving back when I go to cash in the tickets. I haven't had an issue since. Once they see you are recording amounts won on the ticket, they know they can't pull any of that bullshit.

Advice: always sign the back of your ticket and snap a photo of you holding it.

This may be one of the reasons why any prize over $500-$600 in some states you have to go to lottery headquarters to cash out.

Fired? These clerks need to be prosecuted!

Always sign the back of your ticket before you let the cashier scan it. Just in case it’s a winner.

What a sweet lady. Glad she stuck up for herself.

Imagine all the people who didn’t catch him cheating

I would screen shot my winning ticket before taking it to the store from the front and back and if they thought they would play me, I would call 911 right then and there. Some people should really be ashamed of themselves for stealing from people like that and he will never have any good luck.

Three years probation for taking 90% of a disabled person’s winnings ?!?? I got 5 years probation for possessing Mary Jane which is now LEGAL wow

This store should not be allowed to sell any kind of lottery tickets ever again. Makes me wonder how many other people they cheated out of lottery winnings.

That clerk committed possibly a Felony.

The real thieves are the lottery themselves. The payouts are disgusting.

Take that clerk and place him and send to prison and sue the place that employed him. Sue them for a million dollars and send a message you steal from the lottery you go to prison for a term of 10 years and not less then 5 years.

best way to solve it add the lottery app to your phone then u can scan your tickets..plus always sign the back of your tickets

Everyone should know how much they won instead of a clerk telling you. A lot of places have ticket checkers machines.

I'm so glad they came out with the self- check scan and also scan on the app That was a clerk here in Arlington Texas did that to a customer and luckily the owner recognized the winning numbers that's the only way he got caught

Good idea take a picture of the front and back of a winning ticket before cashing it in.

That owner got probation for stealing 9k. Isn't that a felony?

NEVER trust a clerk to tell you how much you won! Always use the customer scan machine or a friend to check the ticket.

I've had the app on my phone for years.. having OCD, I truly can't understand how someone would trust the clerk with the amount. That's just crazy to me man...

At least she was on point enough to call the cops and the lottery commission👍🏿

Close them down and put him in prison!

Throw the thieves in jail, not probation.

That's why I always scan my ticket myself and the best thing to do is take a picture of your winning ticket.

I love how this video offered us solutions to this problem.

I won $100K Powerball in 2020. First thing I did was sign the back of the ticket and wrote my address, phone number and DL number. Then I took a photo of the front and back with my phone. Of course for that amount I had to go to the state lottery office to redeem the ticket and get my check. That was the best day of my life.😁

Reporter failed to mention SIGN the back of tickets It is useless to the thief 😏

the shop owner is clearly a crook, but wouldn't you take 2 min of your life to verify the amount, sign the back and take a pic of the ticket. i'm glad she got her money.

Its next to impossible to do that when its a corporate store. Its always the ones that are run by the owner that try this.

The thieving clerk "lost his job!" He's selling/stealing lottery tickets again at the gas station up the street!

I was in a store when I won a $100 on a scratch card & they wouldn't redeem it, even after they scanned it. The guy was acting shady too & said it wasn't a winner. I quickly grabbed my ticket back from the clerks side of the counter. He actually tried to block me too but I must have summoned some inner ninja skills cause l snatched it up real quick before he could lower his arm to block it. I left the store & went across the street to a gas station where they scanned it & said it was definitely a winning ticket. They gave the win slip out of the machine & payed out the winnings. That first store clerk was trying to keep the ticket & cash it in himself. I reported him to the cops, but there wasn't much they could do as he hadn't actually taken anything. Makes you wonder how many people they have actually conned out of their winnings.

Thank You for being smart💖

Make it life in prison if you steel someone winnings they will think 100 times

Sign the back of your tickets and take a picture of them

That’s dirty that guy should lose his license to sell lottery

That happened to me in Renton Washington the store owner kicked me out of the gas station! And called the police on me! She sold her station and moved! GOD Blessed you, you got something!

I can't believe anyone would go back to a store to cash any tickets with winnings of more than $500. I tried to cash a $2,500 winning ticket at a store once and the clerk told me that they're not allowed to cash any tickets over $500 because those get taxed; and that I'd have to bring it to the lottery office. Same thing happened to a friend who'd won $1,600.

Some people are just fowl when it comes to money, they'll sell their own mother.

he does it all the time-- she was just smart enough to call him on it

Seems to me if the store is the one to check your ticket, you're already being scammed. My liquor store has that thing just sitting out on the counter for anyone to do their own checking.

This is why I always scan my cards first and have the lottery representative on speed dial because I can call them to explain what happens and they will call the retailer right there and I wait for the retailer to give me my money got this happen to me a couple of time where they tried to keep my winnings

3 years probation? That's the problem right there! He should've gotten 5 years hard time!

Normally when it’s a high amount it tells you to go to the lottery Agency , I have worked at a convenience store , I have seen my own workers do that and they got fired for that , it happens more then you think !!

That's crazy... People gambling with these scratch cards gotta know how to play, don't rely on the store clerks or anyone else!

Having a picture of the original validation ticket or using an app is a good helper too.

Yes take a picture of the front And the back of your ticket, and They should make it a mandatory rule for the clerk to give you a receipt of your winning Amount. I have argued with them in the past about letting me see a receipt of the amount. $$$$

The best advice I can give someone who wins big like this, sign your ticket and scan it and take a picture of it. This will make it useless to anyone else, like the reporter said.

Great reporting.

Another risky thing is giving scratchers as presents (xmas, birthday, etc.) because if it accidentally wins BIG, the giver is going to demand HALF, even though they said they won't .

**READING IS FUNDAMENTAL** Dear Customers: Take a pic of your winning tickets, before turning them into the shiesty clerk!😑

This is why you always check your ticket on a winner machine and if it doesn't work then find another machine

Background checks are a double-edged sword. I applied for a job with a major retailer and they were going to hire me until they did my background check (last charge was 30 years ago all minor stuff). Now I have a job that I love with another major franchise making twice as much money, they did not do a background check and I am one of their full-time trusted employees😊😊

Scan yourself never let them do it.

Anything over $600 will have the customer redeem at a lottery redemption office.

When I get my tickets scanned at the grocery store I keep a sharp eye on them so I won't get screwed over but most of the time I use the scanner at the gas station to check for myself.

Every lottery terminal in Canada has a self check scanner.There is also a lottery app that you can scan your scratch & lottery tickets with your phone.

imagine how many times this has happened and some people especially older folks may not have noticed

Moral of the story is call the lottery office yourself.

Who ever does this should be permanently revoked along with the property for life.

why dont you check your winnings / ticket on the self scan machine?

Taking a picture immediately of the front and back is a great idea.

As somebody who works at a gas station I can tell you a couple things, if you win under a thousand dollars it makes a woohoo sound, if you win over a thousand dollars it makes a completely different sound. I love joking with my customers asking them if we're going to be best friends after I scanned the ticket. And I always offer to give the ticket back regardless of winning or losing. The Only exception is one of the stores I work at require us to keep any ticket that wins over a hundred bucks. But if they ask for the ticket back I will definitely give them the ticket back. And happily hand them the money. Also fun fact stealing even a dollar from the lottery is punishable in federal court.

We always go directly to the lottery commission office.

As a former gas station manager... This is a HUGE issue. If they aren't stealing from our customers... They are literally stealing the lottery it's self. 😞 It's disgusting and disappointing.

One of my cousin's thought she had won $2 million dollars on a scratch off about 10 years ago. She fainted when she saw that, when she came to a minute later she realized she only won $20,000. She said well 20 grand is better than nothing, she's not one to be greedy.

That actually happened to me at a HEB in Rockport, Tx. I bought a lottery ticket at a gas station and won 200.00; however, the clerk said they could not cash tickets of 200.00 and suggested I go to HEB. So I already knew I won 200.00. When I went to the Customer Service at HEB, the clerk said, oh you won $5.00, I said no mam. I won 200.00 was already verified at the gas station, and she just laugh and said she was kidding. Since there was a long line waiting, I did not report it because I did get my 200.00, but I regret not doing it. I used to go to the customer service there quite often and did not see her there anymore. Maybe she did it to someone else and was reported.

Somebody somewhere is thinking on the best way to separate you from your money.

read the ticket… If it’s over $500 you’re not supposed to even take it to the store anyways

They are watching the little thief's very closely , while nobody is watching them embezzle the big bucks.

One clerk did that to me many years ago. I just shrugged my shoulders when she crumbled up the paper and threw it in the trash after telling me it was not a winner. I believed her and went home but afterwards, I started to doubt & think she had done the same to many others.

Getting fired is one thing but, you need to start sending these people to jail.

I'll never understand why people spend their hard earned money just to win nothing most of the time.

Honestly didn't even know that these Clerk or owners we're scamming people like this ,that is crazy, I trusted these fools, got me thinking different now

So the clerk no longer works there but where’s her ticket?

It is so difficult to trust convenience store clerks who are foreign or oriental.

How did she not know what she won. It shows you very clearly

The prize amount appears right next to the 3 matching symbols. She can easily see that each line on the ticket has a corresponding prize.

This is why I don’t do the lottery. You really can’t trust anyone when you win

Felony charges for attempted felony theft. Period! Charge these people!!! Shady AF

Happend to me 3 times, twice at the same gas station & once at another gas station. Mine was a number draw & not a scratch off, won $250 didn't know clerk said it was only a $5 winning ticket. Second time I played my birthday twice, you win double if the numbers are exact, she just gave me the one amount (smaller) said that was all. Played the same number 3 times, she she lied & stole my money twice in one day. Took the 3rd ticket which I had left at home to another gas station the next day & thats how I found out, when he gave me my winnings. I had just started purchasing lottery tickets. I didn't sign the other ones, so I had no proof. Always sign immediately, plus now I have the app on my phone so I can check the tickets myself. *The lady at the second gas station was fired about months later, evidently she got caught doing this to others.

They did this at George’s liquor in Fairfield to so many people. SMH

When that ticket is scanned by the lottery machine it's automatically put into their system. It will come up at the end of the day receipts. Which is automatically sent to Lottery headquarters. It's so stupid to steal you gonna get caught. Next time take a picture of your winning ticket before handing it in.

This happened to me in Queens NY on Springfield Blvd. At a little bodega. I stopped going to those little stores. Plus I use the app now.

Poor lady! I'm glad she caught it. That's a lot of money for people.

This is why I sign & check my own tickets.

I experienced this years ago and I should have signed the ticket before having the store check it. I was given $10 and knew that wasn’t right and checked the website and saw there was not a $10 payout for the ticket I bought. I cursed those ppl for robbing me and I should have filed a complaint against them. ☹️

They just close down that store. That’s ridiculous to steal money from people when you own a business.

My sister got beat outa $50k years ago the clerk told her the scratch ticket is not a winner, she went back a few days later and the punk quit.

I had a cashier try to tell me that my ticket didn't win and when I confronted her, she asked me if I really want my money.

Here in Canada all the retailers have a lottery monitor where it shows how much a person has won. Also, its audible. You can check your ticket yourself in the store or on your phone. Finally make sure you always sign your ticket.

You can also scan your vip membership card while buying the scratch off games showing that it is your ticket.

In Canada they won't validate the ticket unless it's signed by the customer

Aww she seems like a nice lady, that’s so messed up what the clerk tried to pull