Winner sends calls from the Lottery to voicemail, believing it to be a scam

By Kate Northrop

An Australian woman ignored multiple calls from the Australian Lottery when they tried to let her know of a $40 million (US$27.7 million) Powerball jackpot win.

An elusive lottery winner thought that the incoming calls from The Lott were a scam and subsequently sent them to voicemail, unaware that she had become a multi-millionaire.

"Myself and the team at The Lott were ready to speak with Powerball's newest division one winner straight after the result of tonight's draw, but sadly when we called our winner's number, it went to voicemail," The Lott spokesperson Anna Hobdell said. "If you see a flurry of missed calls on your phone, you could be the winner we're trying to contact about the life-changing news."

On Thurs., Feb. 2, 2023, the Australian Powerball draw (not related to the USA Powerball game) produced the winning numbers 2, 7, 15, 21, 24, 31, and 35. There was one ticket from Victoria that emerged a division one winning ticket, as well as 26 division two tickets that each took home $26,183.75 (US$18,154.37).

The lottery player's entry for the jackpot-winning ticket was registered to an online account, which allows for the Lottery to reach out to a players who have won. Despite that, the only thing The Lott could do was urge players to check their tickets and wait for the winner to contact them instead.

"How exciting would it be to discover you've won $40 million at the end of the working week," Hobdell continued. "There'd be no better way to enter the weekend!"

The anonymous winner thankfully connected with The Lott shortly after an initial press release was published about a jackpot winner who could not be reached. When she did, her whole body went numb.

"I thought it was a scam!" she exclaimed. "This just doesn't feel real. How do I know if this is real?"

While the winner initially thought she was being scammed, it took a while for her to answer her phone because she was at work.

"This is really going to take some time to sink in," the Echuca resident told the Lottery. "It won't feel real until the money is in my bank account. My husband and I have these goals in place and were wondering how we were going to achieve them, but now we don't have to worry anymore."

Work, however, was likely the last thing on her mind — there's a good chance she won't be showing up at her job much longer.

"My god, I can quit my job!" she yelled. "I can take some time off to spend with my family. We will be able to pay off the mortgage completely and set ourselves up for the future."

"We want this win to go a long way," the winner continued. "We want to leave a legacy for our family for years to come."