A shopkeeper from Gravesend, a town in northwest Kent, England, has been found guilty of trying to con a lottery syndicate [pool] out of nearly £80,000 (US$120,000) in winnings.
Imran Pervais, 26, misled the winning group into thinking they had won £10 when in fact they had scooped £79,887 after matching five balls and the bonus ball.
He was convicted by a jury at Maidstone crown court of fraud by false representation following a two-day trial and he will be sentenced at a later date.
Detectives said Pervais, of Milton Road, Gravesend, had abused the trust placed in him by the victims to try to pocket the lottery winnings himself.
He was working at Moores Convenience Store in Gravesend, on 18 May when the one of the syndicate walked in to check four lottery tickets he had bought the week before. The victim, who paid for 28 lines a week as part of a work syndicate, was told by Pervais that one of the tickets had registered a £10 win.
As another winning slip was being printed, the victim said: "What's that? Another tenner?" Pervais was said to have replied: "Yes."
Using the £20 won in total and adding a further £8, the victim bought another 28 lines for the next lottery draw — not realizing he had fallen victim to fraud.
It was only when the man returned to work and checked the numbers that he realized one of the lines had in fact matched five numbers, which would earn a prize of £1,000.
He then went back to the store and informed Pervais, who told him to return in a couple of hours so he could check the shop for the ticket.
In the meantime, the court heard the victim checked the numbers again and realized that in fact the bonus ball on that line had also been matched, triggering a near-£80,000 windfall.
He went back to tell Pervais and demanded to be shown the ticket. He was given a number of bin bags to search through before being invited to look behind the counter.
Some wooden plinths were removed from the back of the counter, revealing a number of pink winning slips and a screwed-up lottery ticket — the victim's winning ticket.
Camelot launched an investigation and found that all four tickets had been scanned, including the one with the substantial winning prize. Pervais was arrested on 15 June.
Following the verdict, Detective Constable Angela Costin said: "Pervais was placed in a position of trust and he abused that trust in an attempt to make a significant monetary gain for himself.
"He also denied this from the outset and sought to con this syndicate out of a considerable amount of money.
"It was the victim's organization of his syndicate paperwork that led him to discover that he had matched five numbers and the bonus ball.
"Many people put their trust in shop staff and ask them to check lottery tickets on their behalf. I hope this sends out a clear message to members of the public to check the tickets themselves."
Thanks to myturn for the tip.
Wow! i always check my tickets and if i do win something i ask for them back
Crazy, this is quite close to me aswel. I always check them online, and if I do go to a store I sign my name on the back and ask for it back.
Glad that this disbonest person was caught.
This Imran Pervais (also known Pervez), a muslim. Muslims are crooks and are known to lie and con people out of money and their assetts. These radicals are known to use any method to get their ways either by hook or crook.
This person should be dealt severly and punished, his license need to be taken away so as to prevent further such abuses and the business be under surveillance. Other businesses owned by muslims to be under surveillance too to prevent fraud.
Wow hsg2000 is this 2013 or 1913? Educate yourself by watching Dateline's lottery ticket sting operations and by reading books & LP stories, and get to know a few muslims and hopefully you are still young enough to learn something. Do you think you can do that?
This story should send a message to all lottery crooks clerks, you can con a single player easier than you can a group(syndicate).
Funny that hes from Graves end. Look like he ll get his!
Those darn clerks.
I always ask for the terminal generated receipt, and watch to make sure they dont pull a switch.
The guy buying the tickets for the pool may trust the clerks but not everyone in the pool trust him.
No one touches my tickets once they are in my hand, ever. I can check online and my state has scanners that you can check them yourself. Also, as I have said before, print your name on your ticket.
WOW!!! Always check your own tickets and always make copies.
i want this lottery ticket & give me my receipt pronto
If you play a lot, making copies of all your tickets gets old after a while. I check my own tickets and only ask clerks to cash them or verify them and give me the paper work to take to the local authorized bank.
Its across all racial lines.This guy is just one of many.Out here in California the State lottery investigations have reeled in all kinds.Chris Hansen from Dateline " how to catch a predator" did a piece on this practice. Its amazing to watch how these clerks are always surprised when they caught, its like l didn't know it was illegal to do that!.
That shopkeeper needs a good old fashioned ass whoopin'.
A real good one.
Words of wisdom
More words of wisdom
The term lottery "syndicate" makes these players sound so ominous like the mob or gangsters. I like the term lottery "pool" because I think of fun in the sun in a swimming pool. That's were you will be if you win the jackpot. Partying in the POOL!!!
The article also mentions the missing ticket being "screwed-up." I think that better describes the thief shopkeeper. And, what does that mean anyways? Was the ticket crumpled up, altered, ripped, or something else?
I want Powerball to add a "Pool Play" option to their tickets. Make the charge a dollar a line.
Yep, I always know if I have a winner or not.
a slap on the wrist, shucks i'm sorry i was caught.
l think an example has to be made for those clerks who are willing to screw you over.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Pankaj Joshi took 67-year-old Willis Willis´ winning Mega Millions megaplier ticket after Willis asked Joshi in May to check whether any of his numbers were winners, investigators said in a search warrant affidavit last month.
Joshi claimed the prize — about $750,000 after taxes — at the lottery claim center in Austin, had the money wired to a bank account and disappeared, authorities said.
"Never to this degree have we seen a clerk steal a megaplier winning ticket," assistant district attorney Patty Robertson said Wednesday.
Nick Parveez, Joshi´s former manager at Lucky´s Food Store in Grand Prairie, near Dallas, called the lottery commission in July to voice his suspicions about Joshi after hearing that his store sold a $1 million winning ticket, according to the affidavit.
No one at Lucky´s had ever seen Joshi play the lottery, assistant manager Mike Rahman said.
"He just left," Rahman said. "We were shocked. We didn´t know he could do anything like this."
Joshi, who was a student at the University of Texas at Arlington and had worked at the store for five years, was charged in Travis County in September with one count of claiming a lottery prize by fraud. If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison. A judge set Joshi´s bond at $10 million.
The Austin American-Statesman first reported on the charge Wednesday.
Joshi transferred some of the money to various bank accounts after the initial deposit by the lottery, prosecutors said. Authorities have recovered $365,000 from Joshi´s account. It wasn´t clear when the money might be returned to Willis, if it´s proven in court to be his.
"We hope to return the stolen funds back to the victim," Robertson said.
Investigators believe Joshi may have returned to Nepal. When he quit his job in June, Joshi said he was returning to the South Asian country to help his cousin with her perfume business, Parveez told investigators.
Willis, a regular customer at Lucky´s, said he played the lottery two to three times a week using a set batch of numbers. He said he bought $10 worth of Mega Millions megaplier tickets on May 29 for that night´s drawing, according to the affidavit.
Willis told investigators he went to the store two days after the drawing to check the results because he hadn´t been able to find the winning lottery numbers on television or check them in the newspaper.
Investigators used the lottery transaction system to see if the winning ticket had been scanned and found it was checked on May 31. An inspection of the store´s check processing computer found that Willis had cashed a check at the store and purchased lottery tickets two days earlier using set numbers. Willis also produced a lottery play slip showing the winning numbers.
Texas Lottery Commission officials said Wednesday they were investigating the matter. Spokesman Bobby Heith referred questions about the case to the district attorney´s office. He said the lottery recommends players sign the back of their tickets when they buy them in case of loss or theft.
Rahman said even though Willis is upset about the missing money, he still buys lottery tickets at Lucky´s. "He still trusts us," he said.
Those kind of people are really annoying. It seems like you can't trust anyone when it comes to money.