Recent checks of Iowa Lottery retailers find no fraud
Security checks at lottery ticket sale locations at about 200 locations statewide in recent months have revealed no improper payments of prizes to or by store personnel, Iowa's lottery chief told a panel of state legislators last week.
Terry Rich, chief executive officer of the Iowa Lottery, played up the safety and profitability of the lottery before members of the Legislature's Oversight Committee in the wake of an expansive report by Iowa's Ombudsman of State. The April report found the lo ...
Jun 15, 2009, 7:14 am - - Lottery News forum
Joint task force created to stop Jamaica lottery scams
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 forum
Arkansas lottery retailers to be policed for fraud, officials say
The legislation laying the groundwork for Arkansas' lottery does not require it, but officials say they expect the lottery system to include a security division that will be on the lookout for fraud by retailers.
The problem of fraud by lottery retailers gained new attention in the U.S. in the wake of a 2007 scandal in Canada, where investigators found that retailers and their employees were winning a disproportionately large number of prizes.
Between 1999 and 2006, at least 78 retail owne ...
May 19, 2009, 8:32 am - - Lottery News forum
N.C. lottery store owners, employees winning big and often
Some of the same people who sell North Carolina Education Lottery tickets are winning big and winning often and that makes some people suspicious.
Of the lottery retailers winning prizes, some are amassing significant jackpots repeatedly $100,000, $300,000, and $500,000 prizes dozens of times a year.
Is it just dumb luck? Or do these insiders have some kind of inside track? And what is the state doing about it?
A regular lottery player first brought the pattern of retailers winning the ...
May 1, 2009, 2:50 pm - - Lottery News forum
New report criticizes Iowa Lottery security
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 forum
Sting nabs Minnesota lottery clerks stealing winning tickets
Investigations will expand after lottery ticket agents attempt to redeem undercover agents' winning tickets
Five Twin Cities convenience store employees and three accomplices are facing lottery fraud charges after they were caught by undercover investigators allegedly trying to cash in winning lottery tickets for themselves.
The fraud was discovered after the Minnesota State Lottery's security office and the state's Alcohol Gambling Enforcement Division set up a sting operation to test whe ...
Mar 30, 2009, 10:24 am - - Lottery News forum
How online gamblers unmasked cheaters
In the wild, wild west, when a poker player was caught cheating it was a capital offense, with the punishment quickly dispensed right across the card table. But today if you're caught cheating in the popular and lucrative world of Internet poker, you may get away scot-free.
At least that seems to be what is happening in the biggest scandal in the history of online gambling. A small group of people managed to cheat players out of more than $20 million.
And it would have gone undetected if i ...
Dec 1, 2008, 2:17 pm - - Lottery News forum
Critics renew call for lottery inquiry
Critics say a public inquiry into the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. is long overdue after police revealed they had no evidence to charge a former retailer who won 167 prizes worth $1.2 million over a nine-year period.
There is a stink there, New Democrat justice critic Peter Kormos said yesterday, insisting a forensic audit of past winners first promised by lottery officials June 3 and again this week is not enough.
It's not about the one retailer. It's about what has been going on ...
Jul 31, 2008, 9:35 pm - - Lottery News forum
Wardens probed over Kenyan prisoners' lottery scam
Kenya's prison officers are at the center of an investigation over their involvement in a SMS (Short Message Service) syndicate that defrauded the public through nonexistent lotteries.
Last weekend, 350 mobile phones and 400 unused SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) cards were uncovered after a search of prisoners' blocks at the Kamiti Maximum Prison, and an earlier search at the Naivasha Prison uncovered 270 phones. Officers also found a register bearing the names of potential targets.
The ...
Jul 15, 2008, 9:15 pm - - Lottery News forum
Two men arrested in Russia for running Western-style pyramid scheme
250,000 people defrauded of US$765 million
Two men were arrested in Moscow, Russia, on Monday on charges of setting up a pyramid scheme that defrauded around 250,000 people of 18 billion rubles ($765 million), the Interior Ministry said.
Two organizers of the criminal group have been detained Sokolov and Dzhasybaeva, who operated under the firms names Region-Center, Garant Invest, and Garant Kredit. They have been brought to Tatarstan [in the Volga area] for investigation proceedings, a m ...
Jun 10, 2008, 6:43 pm - - Lottery News forum
