The customer went up to the cashier to claim his reward, but unfortunately this cashier was far from trustworthy.
She told the man that his $600 lottery ticket was worth only $5. She sneakily took $5 out of her purse, handed it to the man and, when he was out of sight, kept the ticket for herself.
It seemed so easy – however the cashier’s scheme was about to crumble.
Just minutes later, the man came back into the store to reveal his true identity. He was an undercover agent with the Florida Lottery Commission’s security division. He had been in the store carrying out an integrity investigation.
The cashier, 42 year old Crystelle Yvette Baton was charged with grand larceny theft and is scheduled to appear in court.
Although it’s worrying to think of how often this kind of scam happens and goes undetected, there are steps we can all take to protect ourselves from falling victim, such as signing the lottery ticket or using an electronic checker near the lottery machine to check the prize amount.
Watch a newsclip about the incident below:
I’m so glad that this cashier got caught out and that it wasn’t a genuine customer who ended up scammed out of their winnings.
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