Investigations into claim a Chinese man’s lottery win was falsely claimed by a stranger

Imagine going to cash in your winning lottery ticket, only to find your coins were collected by someone else using your name.

This was the unfortunate situation a Chinese man allegedly found himself in recently after his social media fingers cost him R13,000.

Social media was in meltdown mode after the man claimed he had won money in the lottery draw and shared the winning ticket with followers online.

The flex allegedly came back to bite him, with the man later returning to claim the money had already been collected by someone who used the info from the photo of the ticket.

While some questioned how it could have happened, Chinese state media Global Times reported a staff member from the lottery centre said the issue was under investigation.

Closer to home, TimesLIVE reported last year that Potchefstroom bank teller Nonhlanhla Phillona Matinyane appeared in court after allegedly stealing a client’s lottery winnings.

“Matinyane was arrested on Monday after investigations revealed she allegedly stole money from a client who won an undisclosed amount of money in the national lottery.

“The client, aged 46, was alerted by her financial adviser that withdrawals of substantial amounts of money were made from her account. The alleged theft was reported to the bank and the police. After investigations into the matter, the suspect was arrested for theft,” said police spokesperson Col Adéle Myburgh.

In 2019 a former senior police officer was sentenced to 15 years in prison for stealing nearly R2m of his father’s lottery winnings.

Sunday World reported that Mzamani Manganyi was convicted of fraud. During his trial, Manganyi’s 86-year-old father, Mkhatshane, cried when he recounted how his son stole his money.