Cheated Mega Millions winner finally gets some cash

Last year a Mega Millions ticket holder won a $1 million prize which was stolen by the store clerk who was asked to check it. Willis Willis, 67, has spent the last six months attempting to recover his stolen winnings and the cheated Mega Millions winner finally gets some cash following seizures of bank accounts belonging to the dishonest lottery store clerk.

Last year, Mega Millions ticket holder, Mr Willis went into the store where he bought his winning Mega Millions tickets to check if he had any winners but instead of informing Mr Willis that he had won a $1 million Megaplier prize which was worth more than $700,000 after taxes the store clerk, Pankaj Joshi, 25, pocketed the winning lottery ticket and claimed the prize himself.

Joshi transferred money to various international bank accounts after receiving the stolen lottery winnings. Authorities managed to recover $307,000 from Joshi’s US bank account, which has now been returned to the rightful Mega Millions winner but the rest of the lottery cash is still to be recovered. Two possible relatives of lottery thief Joshi also returned $30,000 of the stolen lottery winnings to avoid prosecution for receiving stolen money.

So thankfully, Mr Willis has received a healthy portion of his lottery winnings but the message is clear. If you buy tickets to any lottery across the world you must sign your tickets to ensure that if they win, you are the only person able to claim the prize. Another way to ensure that you receive any lottery prizes belonging to you is to buy online lotto tickets. This way your tickets are kept safely and securely online plus you will be notified of any winning tickets that you’ve bought.

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Last night’s Mega Millions lottery draw had a $56 million up for grabs but the jackpot managed to slip away and therefore rolls over until Friday night’s draw. The lottery numbers for the Tuesday night Mega Millions draw were; 11, 12, 21, 29 and 45 with the Mega Ball being drawn as 5.