Nothing like getting caught with your hand in the cookie jar… SF Citizen alerted us to this recent episode of Dateline NBC which follows California lottery investigators as they make their rounds.
The segment features Chris Hansen, who you may remember as the guy who used to surprise men on MSNBC’s “To Catch a Predator” when they came to meet underage girls for sex. Well now he’s on the lottery fraud trail.
The segment begins with a stop at Lincoln Park Market, located on Clement at 31st Avenue. In a previous visit, lottery investigators posed as a normal citizen, stopping in to see if any of the several tickets they purchased turned out to be winners. The owner, Mr. Nguyen, looks over the tickets and tells the man that he has a $5 winner, but nothing else.
Turns out that there was a $10,000 winner in the batch, which Nguyen then filed for himself to collect the winnings, essentially stealing the winning ticket from his customer. Nguyen tried his best to talk his way out of it, but eventually, the handcuffs came out. How not fun to get arrested on national television.
Nguyen pleaded no contest to a felony charge for filing a false lottery claim. He was sentenced to a 30 day work program and community service. And the California Lottery Commission promptly terminated his contract. So Lincoln Park Market is no longer a place to buy your winning tickets.
Sarah B.
Ouch.
Lack of evidence on the case with the guy on video taking the ticket into a shall station shows how insane the justice system is.
He stole almost $10,000 and only got a work program and community service?! Not much of a disincentive. I thought anything over $5K was a felony. I know if you steal a car worth that much, you’ll get punished quite a bit more, right?
Wowzers
Can just imagine the reaction whenever Chris Hansen shows up at something as innocent as a birthday party.
YIKES!!
Oh wait, he doesn’t have a camera crew with him…
WHEW!!
Have a seat. No really, have a seat.
In addition to the Lincoln Market, the 711 on Geary and 15th Avenue also got busted for the same thing. I was watching this on TV and had recognized the cashier working behind the counter and had wondered why he had made a sudden disappearance a couple months ago. Apparently he also took the $10,000 fake lotto ticket and had, I believe, his wife turn it in.
Fraud like this can easily be fixed! How about upgrading the scanning/lottery machines, so whatever the clerks are looking at.. you will be able to see it instantly too! — It doesn’t have to show the whole amount of the winning ticket, if it’s say.. over $1,000 or whatever large amount. But, at least you’re the 1st person to know, rather than hearing it from another person (the clerk) who can possibly lie & cheat about it.
Rico, I noticed they do this in AZ — it shows the amount on a big screen. But human nature being what it is there will always be a way to thwart things. In the instance given the store clerk just needs to position himself to hide the screen.
Ahh yes, “Dirty’s,” as we called it at USF. but I thought this was the Western Addition?
I’m no expert on human nature, but I do know that if it’s easy to cheat the system, it makes it easier for people (in this case, store clerks) to be TEMPTED into being dishonest & to take advantage. Why does the clerk need to know if u have the winning ticket anyways?? – I understand if it was a $3,$10,$50 immediate payout. But, if it’s more, the ticket holder should be the 1st one to know, or at the very least the same time the clerk see’s it! When items are scanned on a store cash register, your seeing the same totals being popped up on the screen/register as the clerk does. Why aren’t the lotto machines configured the same way???
Rico, I think we’re talking about a couple different things. First of all, there is a scanner on the counter that is for customers to check to see if they have a winning ticket. It will show if it’s a winner or display the sad words “Sorry, not a winner.” But people who are not used to these scanners will ask the store clerk to check their tickets for them (out of the customer’s view). Basically elderly people. If you KNOW you won a $10,000 prize a store can’t pay it out anyway. There are forms to fill out or a trip to the regional Lottery office.
In the 711 case. The cashier took the ticket and had his sister-in-law in Sacramento attempt to turn it in. And our wonderful D.A. dismissed the case “in the interest of justice”. Typical.
Does signing the back of a lotto ticket mitigate fraud?
I would think no one other than the ticket owner could claim a win if the owner signed their lotto tickets.
Glad to see these miscreants busted.
They should be forced to donate the stolen amount of $ out of pocket to their community.
Maybe the D.A. “dismissed” the case in the interest discreetly skimming the stolen $ for themselves in the form of fraud “fees” and “penalties” and “processing”, etc.
Very unfortunate that this happens. The Lincoln Market owner should have his picture published here, as well as the cashier at 7/11. Thieves need to be shamed! The penalties that they are facing are so minimal for the crime that it’s appalling. Imagine that some poor senior, on minimal SSI pension has one of these thieves take their money. I’m glad they were caught!
Oops! I just watched the video; the thieves have been exposed. Good!
The guy who took the ticket to the Shell Station, and his female accomplice really deserve to be prosecuted. At the very least the State should have brought them in and cost them a bundle in attorney’s fees. What a couple of low life’s! I wonder how many times that guy had dome this? Someone should force a diligence on his and her bank accounts. It actually looks like a network of thieves, in his case. He probably uses a different “mule” for every stolen winner, so that nobody gets suspicious – most likely paying off the place that scans the ticket. Really, really annoying that the guy gets away with it.