Dozens of 'dead people' collected NJ lottery prizes last year

Feb 19, 2015, 4:32 pm (40 comments)

New Jersey Lottery

Nearly four dozen New Jersey lottery winners collected their prizes with false Social Security numbers belonging to dead people, according to an audit of the state lottery system.

The audit also found that the lottery missed out on recovering $890,000 that winners owed in taxes and other obligations for the fiscal year that ended last June.

The report, released Wednesday, said 680 people who won at least $600 presented potentially invalid IDs from July 2013 to July 2014.

People are required to list a Social Security or tax identification number and show ID to claim their winnings so the state can withhold state and federal taxes.

"Prize winners of $600 or more who provide invalid identification numbers create a risk of reduced tax withholdings, overpayment of public assistance, and lost collections on child support, defaulted student loans, and other debt owed to the state," the state auditor said.

Carole Hedinger, executive director of the state lottery, responded to the audit noting that the 680 suspicious Social Security numbers "represents a very small portion of all claims," and the auditor was "unable to substantiate whether these 680 'questionable' Social Security numbers were indeed fraudulent."

In the fiscal year ending in June, the lottery received more than 48,000 claims exceeding $600, Hedinger said.

The audit also found that during that time frame the state's lottery division could have recovered an extra $890,000 winners owed in taxes or other obligations.

State law requires that prizes over $600 be paid toward those debts. But the lottery division was only performing deeper checks for money owed in child support, student loans and public assistance overpayments on winnings over $250,000.

While the auditor recommended the state ramp up its checks to include all prize winners of $600 or more, Hedinger said that the division is not legally authorized to use Social Security numbers in that way. And for prizes more than $250,000, the office does manual checks using winners' names and addresses, Hedinger said.

The state's new Cash4Life game that debuted in June wasn't emerging as much of a windfall for the lottery system, the auditor also warned.

Run in partnership with the New York Lottery, the twice-weekly drawing awards prizes of $1,000 per day for life and $1,000 a week for life. This drawing is unique for awarding fixed sums while other game winnings are based on ticket sales, the auditor said.

The payout, while projected to be 55 percent of sales, reached 98 percent for New Jersey, through the end of August. The state paid out $22.8 million of the $23.3 million in sales.

Cash4Life's odds, one in 21 million, are better than a similar New England game with odds of one in 41 million, according to the audit.

Hedinger said the division keeps a close eye on how the game is performing and those early results are likely temporary.

"We expect the game will perform as designed when measured over a period of at least one year, which will tend to level the peaks and valleys of sales and prizes," she said, adding that Pennsylvania and Virginia will be joining with New York and New Jersey in hosting the game in the next few months.

NJ

Comments

Scratch$'s avatarScratch$

No surprise here! The authorities need to investigate, arrest, prosecute and sentence these crooks whenever possible.

maringoman's avatarmaringoman

NJ Lottery needs to do a much better job catching these cheats. For a government agency I would give it a grade F given the fact that it can easily verify the identity of winners. I usually give government agencies a grade C

It is interesting to see that Cash 4 Life is adding VA & PA.

Gleno's avatarGleno

Looks like another game, Cash4Life is being looked at closer.

What was the cost to promote this game?

Thought the companies that put these games together would have a better handle on what they are promoting.

The retailers will be,no doubt, forced to check ID on those $600.00 prizes, in the future.

Shifty

Stack47

Quote: Originally posted by maringoman on Feb 19, 2015

NJ Lottery needs to do a much better job catching these cheats. For a government agency I would give it a grade F given the fact that it can easily verify the identity of winners. I usually give government agencies a grade C

It is interesting to see that Cash 4 Life is adding VA & PA.

What you're forgetting is any retailer can validate tickets, pay winnings up to $5000 so you're asking an average store clerk to do police work. There are about 150 lottery employees to cover 6100 retailers. The best suggestion might be creating cashing agents for prizes over $600 and paying those retailers extra if they expect them to do the police work.

lejardin's avatarlejardin

They have taken claiming anonymously to a new level lol. 

maringoman's avatarmaringoman

Quote: Originally posted by Stack47 on Feb 19, 2015

What you're forgetting is any retailer can validate tickets, pay winnings up to $5000 so you're asking an average store clerk to do police work. There are about 150 lottery employees to cover 6100 retailers. The best suggestion might be creating cashing agents for prizes over $600 and paying those retailers extra if they expect them to do the police work.

I did not know that about. In MA any prize over $600 has to be claimed at one of the Mass Lottery claim centers where they confirm your identity and take the government cut. They have been doing this for over 10 years. Taxachusetts don't play

Raven62's avatarRaven62

Ghosting is a form of identity theft in which someone steals the identity, and sometimes even the role within society, of a specific dead person (the "ghost") who is not widely known to be deceased. Usually, the person who steals this identity (the "ghoster") is roughly the same age that the ghost would have been if still alive, so that any documents citing the birthdate of the ghost will not be conspicuously incorrect if appropriated by the thief now claiming to be that person.

The use of counterfeit identification falsely documenting a completely fictional identity is not ghosting, as false identification cannot be used to obtain social services or interact with government agencies or law enforcement officials. The purpose of ghosting is to enable the ghoster to claim for his own use an existing identity that is already listed in government records -- an identity that is dormant because its original possessor is dead.

Ghosting is based on the premise (now less justified than in previous times) that separate government agencies do not share a total exchange of information. Therefore, a ghoster can obtain a passport or Social Security benefits in the name of a dead person because the agencies in charge of those services do not routinely cross-check an applicant's history to determine if a death certificate has been issued in that person's name.

sully16's avatarsully16

Quote: Originally posted by Raven62 on Feb 19, 2015

Ghosting is a form of identity theft in which someone steals the identity, and sometimes even the role within society, of a specific dead person (the "ghost") who is not widely known to be deceased. Usually, the person who steals this identity (the "ghoster") is roughly the same age that the ghost would have been if still alive, so that any documents citing the birthdate of the ghost will not be conspicuously incorrect if appropriated by the thief now claiming to be that person.

The use of counterfeit identification falsely documenting a completely fictional identity is not ghosting, as false identification cannot be used to obtain social services or interact with government agencies or law enforcement officials. The purpose of ghosting is to enable the ghoster to claim for his own use an existing identity that is already listed in government records -- an identity that is dormant because its original possessor is dead.

Ghosting is based on the premise (now less justified than in previous times) that separate government agencies do not share a total exchange of information. Therefore, a ghoster can obtain a passport or Social Security benefits in the name of a dead person because the agencies in charge of those services do not routinely cross-check an applicant's history to determine if a death certificate has been issued in that person's name.

We have this in Detroit, but we call them voters.

noise-gate

Quote: Originally posted by maringoman on Feb 19, 2015

I did not know that about. In MA any prize over $600 has to be claimed at one of the Mass Lottery claim centers where they confirm your identity and take the government cut. They have been doing this for over 10 years. Taxachusetts don't play

Same with California- only with us it's ..$599.00 and over.

dognabit

Who knew The Walking Dead was a documentary.

 

maximumfun's avatarmaximumfun

I love New Jersey.

Raven62's avatarRaven62

Quote: Originally posted by sully16 on Feb 19, 2015

We have this in Detroit, but we call them voters.

And Here: All Along I Thought They Were Politicians!

What's a Politician: Someone That Does Nothing for Voters, but Raise Taxes!

Coin Toss's avatarCoin Toss

Chicago joke: My grandfather voted Republican all his life until he died. Since then he's been voting democrat!

KY Floyd's avatarKY Floyd

Quote: Originally posted by Stack47 on Feb 19, 2015

What you're forgetting is any retailer can validate tickets, pay winnings up to $5000 so you're asking an average store clerk to do police work. There are about 150 lottery employees to cover 6100 retailers. The best suggestion might be creating cashing agents for prizes over $600 and paying those retailers extra if they expect them to do the police work.

You might want to read the article, which clearly says that it happens with prizes of $600 or more.

In NJ, and most other states, anything over $600 has to be claimed at a lottery office. It shouldn't be that hard for a state agency to make sure that a winner is correctly identified, in which case an incorrect social security number won't be a big problem. When they find out the withholdings were credited to the wrong person, they should know the identity of the person who gave them the wrong number. Most states withhold the maximum tax, and federal withholdings will be 30%. In the majority of cases they'll already have what the person owes in taxes. For issues with  child support or public assistance, it goes back to having a correct ID, even is the SS# isn't correct.

myturn's avatarmyturn
  1. Multi-million dollar lottery winners instantly become targets by criminals, scam artists, and thieves. If they win a large enough Mega Millions jackpot, it can seem as if the entire country has placed a target on their backs.
Seattlejohn

Quote: Originally posted by myturn on Feb 20, 2015

  1. Multi-million dollar lottery winners instantly become targets by criminals, scam artists, and thieves. If they win a large enough Mega Millions jackpot, it can seem as if the entire country has placed a target on their backs.

That's why there needs to anonymity if you win big in the lottery.  States claim "there has to be transparency, to prevent lottery scams".  But, by the looks of things in Jersey, transparency means nothing as their lottery was scammed tons of times.  And, if they win big, the lottery commission creates problems for the winners by their attempts to promote & publicize their winnings.  Yes, there needs to be anonymity if you win big, despite what the lottery commission says...

Jacko1942

 It seems to me that some retailers by their own tickets and we come in the store to buy instant tickets the numbers are very low why is this

Gleno's avatarGleno

"Anything can happen in NJ" is  the current marketing  theme of the NJ Lottery Commission.

The message  between the lines is that they are looking out for all those winners of $600.00 prizes.

"The dead shall rise"  has a new meaning in N.J.

 

Thinking of...

mypiemaster's avatarmypiemaster

Simply put, NJ Lottery dropped the ball. They can try to shift the blame all they want. Yeah right, blame it on the Zombies.

dr65's avatardr65

The only thing I'm sick about in this article is PA is picking up another game.

Odds of 1 in 21 million? Keep it.

Manage what you have PA and stop showering us with favors which, btw, aren't for us, they're

for you.

This business of inadequate job performance is so typical in state after state. They are masters at

launching new games and keeping up with the Jones's but when it comes to taking care of their

own, the fail miserably. Do you think they care about back child support much? There are kids that

are cold, hungry and in need due to deadbeat parents. The lottery has its guns holstered in the fight

against what the real crime is but is the fastest gunslinger when it comes to being able to offer the

players games other states have going.

No such thing as shame here, even when presented with the stats, one excuse is: 'That's a very small

number'. 680 of 48,000 is 680 too much. NJ should have their lottery yanked until they get serious

about a few things. That would fix things in a hurry...ain't going to happen though.

Oh and did anyone else think that over the course of a year that 48,000 prizes over $600 was pitiful?

I assume that's all games..online and instants??? PA prints instants in the 6 - 7 million ticket range for

EACH game...and we have a WHOLE LOTTA GAMES going just in latex alone.

So, how do you let the sand out of the heel here? I wish someone would get serious and stop passing the

buck all the time.

JoeBigLotto's avatarJoeBigLotto

This doesn't surprise me .Well they said you are more likely to be struck by lightening than win the lottery but nobody has actually calculated the odds for dead people to win . As we can see here dead people have better odds than living people because lightening can't kill them or already did lol. But it takes two to tangle so if half dozen  dead people now play and win it means probably some half dozen dead people are now working in the lottery department too. No No

TheGameGrl's avatarTheGameGrl

Good Joke Cointoss! Loved it!

 

Maybe it took the lottery that long to mail out the winnings that the person had done up and left this world? 

Besides, there is no national(country)  restriction on who can claim a prize whether they have a US social # or not, so that does need to be factor'd into the claims/audit.

dpoly1's avatardpoly1

AND

They voted early and often LOL

Thud

HaveABall's avatarHaveABall

Quote: Originally posted by KY Floyd on Feb 20, 2015

You might want to read the article, which clearly says that it happens with prizes of $600 or more.

In NJ, and most other states, anything over $600 has to be claimed at a lottery office. It shouldn't be that hard for a state agency to make sure that a winner is correctly identified, in which case an incorrect social security number won't be a big problem. When they find out the withholdings were credited to the wrong person, they should know the identity of the person who gave them the wrong number. Most states withhold the maximum tax, and federal withholdings will be 30%. In the majority of cases they'll already have what the person owes in taxes. For issues with  child support or public assistance, it goes back to having a correct ID, even is the SS# isn't correct.

KY Floyd, this article failed to mention that all prizes at $600 or above MUST be claimed [and taxed] at an official NJ Lottery Headquarters' remote office or corporate location.

haymaker's avatarhaymaker

"represents a very small portion of all claims"

Translation: we can't be bothered to fix this.

There will always be people who game the system no matter what.

Stack47

Quote: Originally posted by KY Floyd on Feb 20, 2015

You might want to read the article, which clearly says that it happens with prizes of $600 or more.

In NJ, and most other states, anything over $600 has to be claimed at a lottery office. It shouldn't be that hard for a state agency to make sure that a winner is correctly identified, in which case an incorrect social security number won't be a big problem. When they find out the withholdings were credited to the wrong person, they should know the identity of the person who gave them the wrong number. Most states withhold the maximum tax, and federal withholdings will be 30%. In the majority of cases they'll already have what the person owes in taxes. For issues with  child support or public assistance, it goes back to having a correct ID, even is the SS# isn't correct.

If your prize is over $599.50, you can claim it at your New Jersey Lottery Retailer or at New Jersey Lottery Headquarters. 

I never won over $599.50 in NJ so I don't know if they pay cash on the spot for tickets over that and under $5000, but I was paid the same day in cash in Michigan, Ohio, PA, WVA, and KY. The people using phoney SS numbers probably have a fake picture ID to go along with it and probably easier to fool the people at lottery headquarters than a savvy clerk.

"Most states withhold the maximum tax, and federal withholdings will be 30%. In the majority of cases they'll already have what the person owes in taxes."

Which state withholds Federal or state taxes on prizes under $5000?

luckorfate777

Agreed.  I wonder how prevalent this issue is in other states.

Stack47

Quote: Originally posted by luckorfate777 on Feb 20, 2015

Agreed.  I wonder how prevalent this issue is in other states.

Carole Hedinger, executive director of the state lottery, responded to the audit noting that the 680 suspicious Social Security numbers "represents a very small portion of all claims," and the auditor was "unable to substantiate whether these 680 'questionable' Social Security numbers were indeed fraudulent."

Apparently it's not that prevalent in NJ.

Dahoss

Must be the same people who voted for Obama!

myturn's avatarmyturn

A lot of 'dead people' also vote in New Jersey!

CARBOB

Those are mostly Democrats...

loonasee2's avatarloonasee2

They make enough money on the front side,no need to squeeze the back side with taxes.People that win are going to spend it usually in there local economy,and the merry go-around turns.

Raven62's avatarRaven62

Quote: Originally posted by mypiemaster on Feb 20, 2015

Simply put, NJ Lottery dropped the ball. They can try to shift the blame all they want. Yeah right, blame it on the Zombies.

Maybe the same thing is going on in other States too: It just hasn't been detected and exposed there Yet!

Raven62's avatarRaven62

Quote: Originally posted by myturn on Feb 21, 2015

A lot of 'dead people' also vote in New Jersey!

It's True: Their is Life After Death!

CDanaT's avatarCDanaT

Quote: Originally posted by Stack47 on Feb 20, 2015

If your prize is over $599.50, you can claim it at your New Jersey Lottery Retailer or at New Jersey Lottery Headquarters. 

I never won over $599.50 in NJ so I don't know if they pay cash on the spot for tickets over that and under $5000, but I was paid the same day in cash in Michigan, Ohio, PA, WVA, and KY. The people using phoney SS numbers probably have a fake picture ID to go along with it and probably easier to fool the people at lottery headquarters than a savvy clerk.

"Most states withhold the maximum tax, and federal withholdings will be 30%. In the majority of cases they'll already have what the person owes in taxes."

Which state withholds Federal or state taxes on prizes under $5000?

Good point Stack.....we do not in Texas,nor was it done in Florida when I was there. Unless you have to provide a SS card(in your respective state) with your ID to claim the $600 - $5000 range(which we do not in Texas if you produce a valid drivers license or a few other types of ID). We only have to LIST a SS# on the claim form for any prize range of $25.00 or more.....Could we have a "failure to pay" in this winning range ? possibly if all agencies are not linked to a common point with names and SS #'s.....
With the way the article is written, seems like good ole NJ hasn't set up their lottery commission to link up with ALL the required agencies for which money is/could be owed to.

riscknight's avatarriscknight

Funny also how many dead folks kept 'receiving' their pensions every month here in Greece... I reckon it has to do something with the 'Walking Dead'... no other explanation...

jjtheprince

Maybe all lotteries should be banned in NJ.

eddessaknight's avatareddessaknight

Quote: Originally posted by loonasee2 on Feb 21, 2015

They make enough money on the front side,no need to squeeze the back side with taxes.People that win are going to spend it usually in there local economy,and the merry go-around turns.

I Agree!

Perhaps it's time the greedy government, who produce nothing,  take the good example of other world authorities and just let the hard working men & women, who win Disney this once in a lifetime, have all their winnings - imagine  how that would increase participating tkx sales

Remember the classic story of the reapers?

Maybe government should spend their time chasing the fraudulent underground food stamps & systematic looting of the public trust & treasury by welfare cheats $$$

 

Fortes Fortuna Juvat Sun Smiley

Eddessa_Knight Patriot

mypiemaster's avatarmypiemaster

Quote: Originally posted by Raven62 on Feb 21, 2015

Maybe the same thing is going on in other States too: It just hasn't been detected and exposed there Yet!

You are absolutely correct. They all have skull and bones in their closets to varying degrees. Sooner or later, those skeletons start getting uneasy and start popping their bony heads out of the closets, to the detriment of the lottery gods. Sometimes the lottery gods don't give a rats ass about the controversies generated by these incidents, so far as they are making good money. We love to have those skeletons in the closets exposed.

BellasBMWLucki

I do not attempt cash 4 life,as i watch very closely per week to see whose winning.

Many i've seen in the store literally standing there bemoaning insofar as, "why  no winner$"for literally MONTHS!

SMH. i think the last cash 4 so called "life"was four to five months or longer ago,so not worth it...GLAD I DON'T PLAY.

---

 

i think i attempted 1x.or 2 maximum.Not worth it.I think the game shall cease soon enough just like horrid Monopoly.

 

adios

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