He was a Guatemalan immigrant who spoke little English and had a fondness for scratch-off lottery tickets; they were two clerks at a Long Island gas station who saw an opportunity.
When the clerks scanned Marvin Choy Nij's Take 5 lottery ticket and gave him $774, congratulating him on his windfall, he never suspected the real worth of his lucky ticket: $74,892, which the clerks, Yalcin Nergiz, 41, and Yunis Ozturk, 33, promptly cashed in for themselves, the Suffolk County district attorney, Thomas J. Spota, said this week.
With Mr. Ozturk's brother, Orhan Ozturk, 47, the district attorney said, they split the profits, which came to $48,318.27 after taxes. They were due to be arraigned on Wednesday on conspiracy and grand larceny charges, but the arraignment was postponed until next Tuesday to wait for a Turkish interpreter.
The handful of Bingo and Take 5 scratch-off tickets that Mr. Nij, 28, brought into the Valero station on Peconic Avenue in Riverhead, in mid-March, did not seem like much — until his last ticket was scanned.
Although the clerks ignored his request for a receipt, Mr. Nij, a construction worker who told the police he did not speak or write English, became suspicious only when he told a clerk at the card shop where he had bought the winning ticket about his good fortune, the district attorney's office said. Surprised, the clerk told him that retail stores cannot cash tickets worth more than $600; larger amounts are redeemed by the New York Lottery.
At the same time, Mr. Nij saw a sign in the card shop's window announcing that it had recently sold a $74,892 winning ticket.
"That's when his suspicions were really confirmed," said Robert Clifford, a spokesman for the district attorney.
Orhan Ozturk's lawyer, Edward Burke Jr., said his client, a 25-year employee of another gas station, had never been in trouble with the law before. "I look forward to the court process," he said. (The other suspects' lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.)
The case came months after two brothers from the Syracuse area were arrested and accused of claiming a $5 million winning ticket that they had told the winner, a customer at their parents' convenience store, was worth only $5,000. One brother was acquitted and the other found guilty of stealing the ticket.
It is unclear whether Mr. Nij and the original winner in the Syracuse case will receive the rest of their winnings. A lottery spokesman, Lee Park, would say only that the lottery was assisting the Suffolk County investigation and reviewing the Syracuse case. Lottery rules state that claimants must be "identified to the satisfaction" of the lottery before any payment is made.
Here we go again.
The lottery needs to make it so you can scan your own tickets without having to give it to the shady clerks. In my state you can scan your own regular lottery tickets, but instant tickets you cannot. Even the systems that have a screen in front of the customer that shows the dollar amount is dangerous because other people in the store can see and potentially rob winners.
And once again, always print your name on your tickets.
I can only imagine throughout history how many people have been robbed of their winnings by these shady clerks.
You are so right, and it is so sad that it's so much greed and dishonesty in the world...As the saying goes "Trust No One"......
I would venture to say with confidence that this activity is epidemic and has been for years and years.
We're only seeing the very rare cases that get exposed by stupidity on the part of the thieves or just happenstance.
Maybe the publicity will get a lot more of these people who are constantly being ripped off by these lowlife clerks to open their eyes and not only realize what's going on but to educate themselves as how to prevent it.
The lotteries and law enforcement and the courts need to start doing something about this. This is a disgrace.
Heads need to roll in the lottery commissions, their investigatory arms and in the courtrooms when these slimy pukes are caught.
The lotteries like to turn a blind eye and pretend it's not happening because they don't want the bad publicity it would stir up and because there's work involved if they really want to stop it.
Which they really don't.
The moral of this story is ALWAYS SIGN YOUR TICKET BEFORE HANDING IT TO A CLERK TO CHECK IT FOR YOU!If your state has a self checking machine at stores,USE IT,after signing your ticket!ALWAYS SIGN YOUR TICKET!!!Trust no one when it comes to winning money.
Darn Right Ridge.
These folk are cut from the same cloth as Andy Askhar- that convicted son of the convenient store owner who was nailed last week. Conviction followed by deportation.
How the hell do you know that they were not born here? Just because someone has a foreign name does not mean they were not born in America. Last time I checked foreigners give birth to children in this country every single day. Typical ignorant American opinon that all people with foreign names must be born elsewhere and are not American.
I could think of a way that would minimize this from happening.
All lottery retailers are required to have a computer monitor facing the customers.
As soon as the ticket is scanned, the monitor will flash and will show the prize in big red fonts that nobody could miss it.
Tennessee Lottery Retailers are required to have the readout facing the customer but a lot of them don't. They put the machine on a back wall or a window so you would have to go outside and read the screen. Or they cover it up with stuff on the counter so you can't see it.
Cuz they know the Tennessee Lottery really doesn't care and doesn't enforce anything anyway.
It's a free-for-all.
Ripping off naive lottery players can be a very lucrative business.
"Typical ignorant American opinon..."
Typical ignorant American opinion?
So American opinions are typically ignorant?
Where the hell are you from that makes you so qualified to judge us?
If you don't like our opinions, why don't you go back wherever the hell you came from too?
Right. What ny lotto could do is add instructions in spanish on the ticket. Another problem we have is the scanners or machines are always broken.
You addressing me bud?- how in the hell do l know?
By this...
More: Bio, Facebook, Twitter, Stories by Josh Einiger, News Team
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (WABC) -- A construction worker, who barely speaks English, thought he struck it big winning more than $700 with a winning lottery ticket.
But it turns out it wasn't $700 he won, it was actually more than $70,000.
Three suspects are charged with swindling him out of the money when he cashed the tickets in Suffolk County.
In the community of Turkish immigrants who work gas stations around Riverhead, the news spread in a flash; that after years of drudgery selling lotto tickets at this Valero station, Yalcin Nergiz and Yunis Ozturk had hit it big, a $74,000 Take 5 jackpot.
But neither spoke the best English, so they asked Yunis's older brother Orhan, who works just down the road, to cash the ticket in.
"His brother lied to him, and now he's in trouble," said Eray Cufadar, a friend.
* The winner of the last Big Jackpot from NJ was an immigrant from the Dominican Republic( Pedro),lived in NJ for decades, he too spoke little English or not the " best English"- he needed an interpreter.Dare l say that IF YOU BORN HERE- YOU HAD BETTER SPEAK ENGLISH or passable English, if you dont- ITS A DEAD GIVEAWAY....So take that to the bank Venomous one.
These thugs needed an " Interpreter and found one in the Brother... so there.
Guess which ones do not speak the " best English?"
Never seen a broken scanner?
This is getting outta control, but I guess when money is involved it is kinda expected. Shame on NY Lottery for not being more proactive on this subject.
I've seen a "broken" scanner.
At least I was told it was broken, but it could have just as easily have been unplugged.
I scan everyone of my winners, even though I already know how much I won. I make it a point to let the clerk see me do it, and if they dont, I tell them "I just scanned this ticket and I won XX.00 dollars."
If the scanner is "broken", because I already know how much I won, I say to the clerk when I hand them the ticket; "Here' a XX dollar winner." A snotty clerk once said to me "Well, I'll let the terminal decide that." I said nothing, except when she handed me my money. I simply said "Told ya" and walked out of the store.
all the time it don't work i just unplug it and plug it back in,
sometimes the cashier says i can check them for you back here and i'm like No Thanks
" I simply said "Told ya" and walked out of the store."
Perhaps the clerk put a piece of tape on the reader so it wont work and players will bring the tickets to her?
i will put a peace of tape on her with a sign that says kick me
knew something was fishy about this place . stopped couple times at this gas station and you can just read it on the clerks face down there " hey im a crook" glad those fkers got caught .
Sometimes when I read stories such as these I get upset at the victims. What is so hard in signing your tickets if you gonna hand them over to the store clerk? or checking the results on the newspaper/website/lottery results hotline? If people just worked a little harder, conmen would be extinct, I think.
And you forgot to mention asking the clerk for a print-out of the winning numbers! This why I don't always believe a crackhead when he comes along and says... "just give me $5 million, please"
Yessir! in a perfect world such victims would be charged with incitement lol
the clerks ignored his request for a receipt.
Should have known something was up right there!!
If a clerk won't hand you over a receipt, call the cops!!
The same state that wouldn't allow Chris Hansen from Dateline NBC
to do their report on lottery crooks.
Immigration status is certainly a legitimate concern. Glad to see where the authorities prosecuted this criminal act; hoping they'll prosecute the widespread immigration fraud with the same zeal.
gtting to be a store clerk will have to get an honest job.
I thought the same thing.
I agree, everyday I see people who for some reason are dependant on others for one reason or another, and the moral of the story is, when you give up your independance you will be easily conned.
Yep
You're right. The article says that Pedro Quezada is an immigrant.
Okay so here are my 2 cents worth...I dont care who migrate to this country JUST LEARN THE FREAKING LANGUAGE.If you are going to migrate legally or illegally to this country learn to speak ENGLISH or stay where you are because moving to a country and you dont know the language can put one back into a synonomous place of captivity from whence they were escaping..someone said"this has been going on for years"referring to store clerks taking advantage of the ignorant. One has to be 18 or older to play the lottery..I think one should have to also at least have a high school diploma or GED to play the lottery.just like one has to have a license to drive, carry a gun, fish, etc..we should have to have a license to play the lottery where one would show proof of having a high school diploma or GED.and would also prove to read write and understand English, which would waive ones right to claim money after it was stolen by a store clerk if they don't follow the rules accordingly..the store clerk should still be arrested and sentenced accordingly but the actual winner would lose his or her winnings if they didn't sign the back of his or her ticket..well maybe not an actual license but an added endorsement on ones driver's license or identification..in Florida we swipe our driver's license and our whole life pops up on the screen.so swiping our license to play lottery shouldnt be a long process..an added feature to the current lottery vending machines will be needed too..these long drawn out court cases cost us money (taxpapyers)and we are using our money to help out people that are not only illegal/legal immigrants.THEY WONT EVEN TAKE THE TIME TO LEARN THE LANGUAGE SO WE LOSE MORE TAX DOLLARS ON INTERPRETERS..
hmmm reading your signature and seeing 1908..I will step out on a limb and say/ask are you an AKA
Oh what tangled webs we weave when first we practice to deceive.
Rule #1 Sign ticket with ink pen before handing it over to clerk.
Shady ass clerks i know the liquor store that the machine is broken in purpose to rip ppl off.'& it's been for the longest time . It's so they can scam you . I went there awhile back it was broken & i know if i go right now it's still broken aka tampered with . Dam foreigners are snakes in the grass. Need to keep the grass cut low to expose them snakes ????????????