Lottery examines claim UJ student fled country with R18m prize from photoshopped ticket

Social media users’ celebration was short-lived this week following reports of a man who robbed the National Lottery of R18 million after claiming winnings with a photoshopped ticket.

A website had reported earlier this week that a University of Johannesburg student, who lost his parents in December, was a wanted man after collecting R18 million using a fake ticket and an ID. According to the website, the student and his “unknown inside man” cloned three winning tickets and the money was transferred into an account opened with a fake identity.

The website further quoted a police spokesperson as saying: “[The money] was then sent to an offshore account and later bought bitcoin which makes it untraceable now. This was all made possible because someone on the inside helped him with the details he needed to pull this off. He used a fake identity to collect the funds and a fake passport to enter Swaziland and then disappeared for good. [For] all we know, he could be back in South Africa living a rich life.”

Social media users praised the man following the reports, saying he pulled off a job Daniel Ocean – a character played by George Clooney in Ocean’s Eleven – would be proud of.

Twitter user @KeoSimplyBoss wrote: “At least Sizwe’s action didn’t cost any life. People are killed out there [just] for money, politics manipulates people just to be rich and live their dreams… The guy just used his knowledge and skills to live his life… lol I salute you Sizwe, big up bro,” while @Toni wrote: “Lotto must leave Sizwe alone, do you understand the frustration of thatha ma chance and never thatha ma million. He saw an easy way out and took it. Leave Sizwe alone Sizwe 1 lotto 0.”

But unfortunately for his fans, there is no UJ student who took any Lottery money.

Ithuba said the story was fake news, adding that it would be impossible to claim money with a fake ticket as it had “high-security measures” in place for such claims.

It said: “Ithuba has become aware of the news that is currently being circulated, regarding a University of Johannesburg student who allegedly photoshopped a Lottery ticket and used it to claim winnings. We can confirm that no such incident has taken place, the news is fake. Furthermore, Ithuba has high-security measures in place that would immediately identify invalid claims of any jackpot and non-jackpot prizes.”

FAKE NEWS ALERT!
Ithuba has become aware of the news that is currently being circulated regarding a University of Johannesburg student who allegedly photoshopped a Lottery ticket & used it to claim winnings. We can confirm that this is fake news & no such incident has taken place pic.twitter.com/nmqkJZ6uY0

— #PhandaPushaPlay (@sa_lottery) April 25, 2019

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