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Infamous lottery scammer says US computerized lottery drawings remain fatally flawedNews Story
Eddie Tipton warned them. As the head of IT at the Multi-State Lottery Association, Tipton pulled aside his boss and told him the computer software that randomly selected the winning numbers for million-dollar games in as many as 17 states had a terrible flaw. It wasn't really random. Though his boss listened, Tipton told state investigators that other officials with the nation's chief lottery system did not. They told him to fix it, then moved on. A disgruntled Tipton made some upda
Mar 19, 2018, 8:32 am - Lottery News

How a gaming geek with a checkered past pulled off the biggest lottery scam in U.S. historyNews Story
12-15-18-29-38-41. Eddie Tipton jotted down the numbers on a yellow sticky note as he sat at his desk in Urbandale more than a decade ago. Around him were more sticky notes filled with number sets that he carefully wrote down as they spun up on his computer screen. The numbers were generated by a cryptic two-line software code Tipton had planted in his employer's computer system at the Multi-State Lottery Association. The office building was virtually empty as Tipton ran test after test
Mar 16, 2018, 7:48 am - Lottery News

More millennials than seniors losing money to scamsNews Story
Forget the clich of the vulnerable senior citizen falling victim to scammers a larger share of young people reported that they lost money to fraud than older individuals did in 2017. Among consumers ages 20 to 29, 40% of those who made fraud complaints to the Federal Trade Commission lost money, compared with just 18% of those who were ages 70 and older, according to an annual report from the federal agency released Thursday. The report examined consumer complaints made to the FTC in 2017.
Mar 4, 2018, 10:12 pm - Lottery News

Brothers admit guilt in lottery scamNews Story
Two siblings from Maryland who convinced multiple local residents to pay taxes and fees in advance of collecting on nonexistent lottery winnings entered guilty pleas Thursday in federal court. Daniel Archer, 29, and Matthew Archer, 28, each pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Bowling Green to 20 counts of wire fraud. The two men accepted plea agreements in which they will pay $728,442.18 in restitution. Each count of wire fraud carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, but
Jan 19, 2018, 3:06 pm - Lottery News

Georgia Lottery denies millions in prizes to winners of scratch-off gamesNews Story
The Georgia Lottery Commission has refused to pay more than $17.1 million in scratch-off game prizes since 2014 the year lottery officials instituted a policy of investigating big-money winners. The lottery has issued 270 denial letters to winners of $1,000 or more in the past four years, citing a variety of suspicions that could be fraud: people who claim multiple winning games in a relatively short period of time; winners who can't identify where or when the game was purchased; or individua
Dec 20, 2017, 7:13 pm - Lottery News

2 more suspects plead guilty in $5.7M Jamaican lottery scamNews Story
Two more suspects have pleaded guilty in a Jamaican lottery scam that authorities say bilked at least 90 Americans out of more than $5.7 million. O'Neil Brown and Dahlia Hunter earlier reached plea deals with prosecutors. They pleaded guilty to conspiracy in separate hearings this week. The government dropped dozens of fraud and money laundering counts. Seven other defendants have pleaded guilty in recent months, including Hunter's son, Lavrick Willocks, who authorities say masterminded th
Dec 8, 2017, 9:57 pm - Lottery News

Jamaican court goes easy on lottery scammersNews Story
There are reports of disquiet among Jamaican law enforcement officials over news that 15 men who pleaded guilty to lottery scam-related charges in the Hanover Circuit Court were sentenced to fines totaling $367,000. According to information obtained by The Gleaner-Power106 news centre, the men all pleaded guilty to possession of identity information on November 23rd and 24th. The reports indicate that seven were fined $30,000; five were fined $20,000 while two were fined $25,000. The ot
Dec 4, 2017, 8:27 am - Lottery News

2 more Jamaican lottery scam suspects brought to USNews Story
All of the 13 suspects arrested in what authorities believe is the first large-scale Jamaican lottery scam to be prosecuted in the U.S. have now entered pleas in federal court, with more than one-third of them admitting guilt or scheduled to do so. Authorities say the scam bilked at least 90 mostly elderly Americans out of more than $5.7 million. Two suspects who had been awaiting extradition in Jamaica were brought to the U.S. earlier this month and entered not guilty pleas in federal court
Sep 20, 2017, 9:42 am - Lottery News

Scammers using social media accounts claiming to be lottery winner Mavis WanczykNews Story
Police are again warning people about multiple fake social media accounts created by scammers pretending to be the city's Powerball winner. Don't fall for this scam. Don't give personal information, Michael Wilk, Chicopee Police public information officer, posted on the department's social media accounts. In a brief search Wilk said he found more than 30 fake Instagram accounts as well as a handful of Twitter accounts and Facebook accounts. Nearly all of the accounts are using some versio
Aug 31, 2017, 8:33 am - Lottery News

Lottery rigging mastermind sentenced to 25 years in prisonNews Story
A former lottery security chief was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Tuesday for rigging the computerized lottery drawings in several states so he could collect the jackpots. Eddie Tipton, former security director of the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL), received the maximum sentence from an Iowa judge, who mentioned Tipton's greed in his sentencing. I certainly regret my actions, Tipton told the court. It's difficult even saying that with all the people that I know behind me that
Aug 22, 2017, 4:49 pm - Lottery News