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Lottery winners broke, bustedNews Story
For someone who struck it rich, William Rivenburgh had fairly modest plans about how to spend his lottery winnings three years ago: Pay off debts, make home repairs and possibly take a family trip to Disney World. Whether any of those things happened is unclear. What is clear is that the money Rivenburgh has gotten so far from the $1 million scratch-off ticket he won in 2006 seems to have evaporated. He doesn't have enough money to make $5,000 bail after he was arrested May 25 for alleged
Jun 25, 2009, 12:57 am - Lottery News

Joint task force created to stop Jamaica lottery scamsNews Story
The feds are cracking down on Jamaican lottery scams, which bilked Americans out of more than $30 million last year, authorities said Tuesday. The brazen con artists are transforming the tropical getaway into a fraudsters paradise pulling in untraceable cash to finance the drug and gun trades with impunity, officials said. It's just an incredible amount of money that's coming down here, said Vance Callender, an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement attache at the U.S. Embassy in Kingston.
May 27, 2009, 3:25 pm - Lottery News

New report criticizes Iowa Lottery securityNews Story
Report claims lottery not investigating fraud complaints The state ombudsman issued a report Tuesday alleging Iowa Lottery officials have failed to adequately protect the enterprise's customers from fraud and theft by retailers. Iowa Citizens' Aide/Ombudsman Bill Angrick said his review of three years' worth of lottery investigations found numerous customer complaints where leads went unexplored and potential crimes were not pursued. And, Angrick said in a 210-page report, even when the
Apr 22, 2009, 12:08 pm - Lottery News

More Calif. stores accused of stealing customers' lottery prizesNews Story
Perhaps you're not quite as unlucky in the lottery as you thought. That scratcher ticket you tossed? Well, it just might have been a winner with the cash prize going to none other than the store owner or clerk you passed it off to as garbage. Ten retailers and clerks are accused of trying to cash in customers' winning lottery tickets at three locations in San Jose, two in Milpitas and one in Santa Clara. Nine people were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of felony grand theft of lottery ticket
Mar 6, 2009, 7:59 am - Lottery News

Man accused of cashing stolen lottery ticketsNews Story
A Baltimore man's alleged attempts to cash lottery tickets stolen in a September armed robbery at a Hampstead gas station may have won him nothing but a trip to jail. Mark Arthur Perry, 44, of the 1300 block of Ensor Street in Baltimore, is charged with armed robbery, robbery, theft of more than $500, first-degree assault and use of a handgun in a violent crime. He was held without bail at a bail review hearing Friday, according to court records. Perry and two other men allegedly robbed
Feb 26, 2009, 7:41 am - Lottery News

Lottery retailers busted in raidNews Story
Store owners, clerks accused of stealing winning tickets Lottery officials raided several mini marts Tuesday in Fresno, California. Owners and clerks were taken away in handcuffs after undercover investigators say the suspects cheated would-be customers by lying about winning tickets. Late last year officers posing as consumers showed up at many local mini marts to test their honesty. More than a dozen store owners and employees failed. Today, authorities caught up with them at the busi
Jan 22, 2009, 11:45 am - Lottery News

Infamous Alaska lottery winner attackedNews Story
Apparently not a robbery attempt, policeman says The man who won Alaska's first half-million-dollar lottery was attacked on a downtown Anchorage street yesterday afternoon with a tire iron or metal pipe, according to police. Police say Alec Ahsoak, 53, was attacked when a man approached him to ask if he was the man who won the $500,000 jackpot. Whether the attack was motivated by Ahsoak's winning the lottery or the widely distributed reports that he is a three-time convicted sex offende
Jan 14, 2009, 3:11 pm - Lottery News

Sex offender wins Alaska lottery that aids sex abuse victimsNews Story
The winner of the $500,000 Alaska lottery to benefit a nonprofit that aids victims of sexual abuse is himself a convicted sex offender. Alec Ahsoak, 53, came forward to claim his winnings on Saturday, said lottery organizer Abe Spicola, who owns Lucky Times Pull Tabs in Anchorage. He said he was going to buy a house and said he was going to donate part of it to God, and you know charity, Spicola said. Specifically, Ahsoak said he planned to give $100,000 of the jackpot to Standing Toge
Jan 11, 2009, 3:54 pm - Lottery News

Woman scammed out of $400,000 pursuing lottery-sized fortuneNews Story
This may well be the mother of all Internet scam cases. Janella Spears, a reverend and a registered nurse from Sweet Home, Oregon, ended up sending Nigerian fraudsters more than $400,000 when she was promised a multi-million dollar pay out from a lost relative. When she began to doubt she was sent letters from the FBI Director, the US President and the President of Nigeria. She still thought it was genuine and ignored the pleas of her family and law enforcement officials in the US. She
Dec 9, 2008, 1:23 am - Lottery News

Florida woman loses $40,000 in lottery ticket scamNews Story
A South Florida elderly woman was scammed out of thousands of dollars in an alleged lottery ticket scam, police said. Pembroke Pines police said that on Oct. 24 Aydee Suarez-Ospina, 72, was approached by the a Hispanic man and woman at the Bravo Supermarket at 12141 Pembroke Road. Police said the man told Suarez-Ospina that he was in possession of a winning lottery ticket and needed assistance in claiming the prize because he was not a U.S. citizen. The female suspect, pretending to overhe
Dec 5, 2008, 4:42 pm - Lottery News