程阳：美国司法剑指销售员骗偷中奖彩票案

 

【程阳曰】

美国彩票销售员骗奖案的启示：

1、技术上，尽量采用双屏显示，使兑奖者能够看到兑奖信息，避免销售员调包私吞中奖彩票；

2、现场提醒设置，提醒兑奖者细看兑奖操作与信息；

3、管理上，要求销售员将兑奖彩票张张明示，并把未中奖彩票交还兑奖者，由兑奖者自行处理，避免法律责任。

Store owner tried to scam woman out of lottery winnings

May 20, 2012, 7:23 am

 

Louisiana Lottery able to track down real winner

 

A woman was almost scammed out of her lottery winnings by the convenience store where she bought the ticket, according to Louisiana Lottery officials. But a simple step helped authorities find the rightful winner.

 

Fong Kwok hasn't had a day off in four years. So when she found out she won $10,000 in the Louisiana Lottery she was ecstatic.

 

"That day I just was so happy," said Kwok, who owns Bamboo Restaurant in New Orleans East. "I could not believe winning."

 

Kwok's Mega Millions ticket matched four of the five white ball numbers, plus the yellow Mega Ball number in the April 13th drawing.

 

But Kwok said a worker at the nearby convenience store where she bought the ticket, Downman Center, first told her she won only $3.

 

Lottery officials said one of the men who owns the convenience store, Raed Alhindi, 31, tried to cash in Kwok's winning ticket last month.

 

Kwok could have been swindled out of her $10,000 win if she hadn't done one thing, said lottery officials. She always writes her name on the back.

 

Officials said Alhindi crossed off Kwok's name on the back of the lottery ticket and wrote his own instead. But using special technology, lottery officials were able to lift his pen marks to reveal Kwok's original signature. They eventually tracked her down.

 

Kwok said she often bought lottery tickets from the Downman Center convenience store. Now, Alhindi has been arrested and charged with trying to cash an altered lottery ticket. Each of his four stores have been suspended from selling lotto tickets.

 

"I could not believe [it]," said Kwok. "Because every time I go over there, they are very nice."

 

But while Kwok is surprised, she's not angry.

 

"I [am] just very happy I got my money," said Kwok. "But that's all. That [is] okay."

 

Kwok bought another Mega Millions ticket Thursday. She said she'll always sign the back.

 

Her next order of business is to finally take a vacation.

 

"I need to go to Disneyland or SeaWorld," smiled Kwok.

 

Kwok plans to cash in her lottery ticket Monday at the lottery office in Metairie. No one from Downman Center convenience store was able to comment. Altering a lottery ticket is a felony. Alhindi could face up to 20 years in prison.

 

美国销售员谎报彩票中奖金额诈骗大奖得

2012年05月22日14:34  新浪

 

近日，美国路易斯安那州彩票管理局通过技术手段，破获了一起彩票欺诈案件，并帮助当局找到真正的彩票赢家。邝国(Fong Kwok)是一名在新奥尔良东竹餐厅工作四年之久的员工。当她购买的的超级百万票匹配四个白球号码后，意识到自己赢得1万美元的奖金。

 

“那一天，我简直不敢相信赢了。”她欣喜若狂地说。当她来到附近的便利店打算兑奖的时候，名叫阿海地(Alhindi)的工作人员告诉她只中得3美元奖金。邝国将信将疑的把彩票递给这名男子，她很顺利的得到了所谓的3美元奖金。

 

阿海地试图骗取国的彩票，然后自己去领取1万美元奖金。但她每次购买彩票之后都有一个习惯，那就是把自己的名字写在彩票的背面。

 

当这名男子拿着彩票前来兑换奖金的时候，彩票官员们看出了这张彩票背后的字体又被涂改过的痕迹，通过笔记对比显示并非阿海地本人，当即通知警局逮捕了这名男子。在一系列的技术手段作用下，最终还原了原始名字字体，找到了受骗人邝国女士。

 

邝国女士非常惊讶路易斯安那州彩票管理局能帮他找回彩票和奖金，她说将用这笔钱去迪斯尼乐园放松放松。阿海地所在的彩票销售网点因为管理失职，目前已经暂停营业整顿，而阿海地本人因伪造彩票欺诈，可能面临长达20年的监禁。(中彩网崔杨/编译)

 

 

 

Sting nabs Minnesota lottery clerks stealing winning tickets

Mar 30, 2009, 10:24 am

 

Investigations will expand after lottery ticket agents attempt to redeem undercover agents' winning tickets

 

Five Twin Cities convenience store employees and three accomplices are facing lottery fraud charges after they were caught by undercover investigators allegedly trying to cash in winning lottery tickets for themselves.

 

The fraud was discovered after the Minnesota State Lottery's security office and the state's Alcohol & Gambling Enforcement Division set up a sting operation to test whether employees at lottery retailers were lying to players about the value of their tickets and then trying to redeem the winnings.

 

"(We) really need our retailers to be honest and to have their employees do it right every time," said state lottery director Clint Harris.

 

The stings took place last December and January at 186 randomly selected metro stores, Harris said. Undercover agents would ask clerks to verify the specially constructed crossword game scratch-offs as winners. The prizes ranged from $7,000 to $21,000.

 

"Our goal was to find out how people would handle those tickets, and what instructions they would give," said John Willems, director of alcohol and gambling enforcement for the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, which had agents help with the sting.

 

Harris said he wasn't pleased with the stores that failed, but he was proud that the majority of the tested employees didn't give into temptation.  Out of 186 stores in the metro area that were visited by an undercover agent during the sting, five stores didn't pass.

 

"I was hoping for zero of course," Harris said. "Unfortunately, there are some of our retailers that do not do the right thing."

 

Harris noted that although 3 percent of the stores visited commited fraud, a similar test in California found 18 percent of 450 stores checked broke the law.

 

During the sting, undercover agents would bring in a decoy lottery ticket that appeared to be a winner for a large amount of money. The agent would ask the clerk to verify if it was a winner to see if the clerk would tell the agent to bring the ticket into the state lottery office in Roseville. Winning tickets valued at more than $599 must be brought to the state lottery office to be redeemed.

 

The Ramsey County attorney's office charged eight people with felony lottery fraud after the investigation. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a $25,000 fine or both.

 

Representatives of the five stores either refused to comment or could not be reached by phone Friday.  The eight suspects charged with felonies by the Ramsey County attorney's office also could not be reached.

 

Stores that failed the compliance test could face administrative action by the state lottery, including having their lottery ticket sales suspended or their contracts canceled.

 

Lottery officials also plan to make more Minnesota retailers aware of the tests.

 

While buying lottery tickets at a downtown St. Paul convenience store Friday, Gregg Draper, of St. Paul, said he wasn't surprised by the news. If he had a winning ticket for several hundred dollars, he wouldn't bother going to a store, but directly to Lottery headquarters.

 

"There's some shady people," he said.

 

Minnesota's compliance check was part of an effort to uphold the state lottery's commitment to ensure players receive the correct prizes, to ensure retailers are meeting expectations when selling lottery tickets and to protect the games, Harris said.

 

"From our standpoint, it is an effective program," Willems said. "The overwhelming majority of people out there did the right thing. It is our intention to continue."

 

Harris said the compliance checks are just one tool that will help players get correct winnings. He encouraged players to sign the backs of their tickets right away so they can't be redeemed by anyone else. Ticket scanners are also in 1,600 of the state's 3,100 lottery retailers, so players can look for the machines instead of bringing tickets to the clerk.

 

Authorities are planning to continue the checks and expand them to outstate Minnesota soon.

 

"We're in the business of handing out prize money, and we want people to get the right amount," Harris said. "The integrity of our games have to be top notch, otherwise we would fail."

 

The Accused

 

Store clerks and accomplices charged with fraud after a Minnesota State Lottery compliance check:

 

Asgaralli Ali, 47, of Minneapolis, and Jairam Shiwmangal, 45, of Minneapolis, at Sunset Market, 10130 Sunset Ave. in Circle Pines

Jaideep Singh, 19, of Columbia Heights, and Harpreet Kaur Virk, 22, of San Francisco, at Easy Way Foods, 2820 Johnson St. N.E. in Minneapolis

Nancy Ahmed Youssef, 31, and Mohamed S. Ahmed, 37, both of Coon Rapids, at University Market, 308 37th Ave. N.E. in Columbia Heights

Susan Lynn Hanna, 48, of Vadnais Heights, at River Country Cooperative, 1180 N. Concord St. in South St. Paul

Majdi Elias Almadien, 38, of Apple Valley, at SS BP, 4553 Nicollet Ave. S. in Minneapolis

 

Tips to prevent your lottery prize from being stolen

 

Sign the back of a winning ticket before trying to cash it.

Use an electronic ticket checker, if available at the store, to verify the ticket and winnings.

If you hand over your ticket to be checked, always insist on getting it back afterward.  Don't let the agent throw it away.  The agent does not have a right to keep it, and there is no rule or law stating that you must give up the losing ticket.  It belongs to you.

Listen for any audio tones produced by the lottery machine when the ticket is checked.  Most machines will make a "error tone" if the ticket is a loser, but if the ticket is a winner it will generate a receipt and sometimes produce a "winning sound" of some type.  If the lottery machine produces a receipt after the clerk scans the ticket, it is probably a winner.  Insist on seeing the receipt it produced.  If the agent won't show you, they are almost certainly concealing a winning notification.

 

骗中奖彩票自己兑奖美国五销售员不守信遭指控

2009年04月03日来源：公益时报

 

本报讯由加利福尼亚销售员的不法行为引起的，美国日前刮起的彩票诚信调查又有了新消息：明尼苏达州五个便利店雇员将面临欺诈罪指控。据调查员描述，这些雇员是在企图用骗来的中奖彩票私自兑奖时被抓获的。

 

暗调彩票诚信

 

明尼苏达州彩票安全办公室与其他部门联合行动，以测试是否有彩票零售商雇员对持有中奖彩票的购彩者撒谎，然后试图兑现奖金。

 

明尼苏达州彩票主管ClintHarris告诉记者，暗中进行调查的工作人员们要求店员们核实即开票是否中奖，而中奖票的奖金分别从7000美元到21000美元不等。调查员询问店员们这些彩票是否中奖，并问店员们该州彩票办公室的所在地——当地彩票中奖超过599美元，需要去该州彩票办公室兑奖。

 

“暗访结果显示，在186个被调查的商店里，只有5个商店没有通过测试。”Harris表示，尽管他对那些存在失误的销售人员很失望，但让他感到自豪的是大多数员工抵制住了诱惑。

 

在调查结果出炉后，明尼苏达州拉姆齐县检察官办公室对进行彩票诈骗的5个销售员及其同伙共8个人提出指控，每个被指控者都将会面临最高5年刑期的牢狱生活，或者是处以25000美元的罚金。

 

在3月27日指控会上，五家商店代理人既没有发表任何评论，也拒绝和外界进行联系。

 

另据有关人士介绍，这五家未经过测试的彩票销售商还将面临着来自州彩票办公室的行政诉讼，其中包括终止他们的彩票销售权和取消代销合同。

 

购彩者对调查结果不意外

 

对于明尼苏达州的调查结果，当地购彩者有着不同的声音。

 

正在圣保罗市一家便利店购买彩票的GreggDraper告诉记者，他对这条消息并不感到吃惊，“如果是我中得了几百美元的奖金，我会直接去彩票公司兑奖总部去兑奖。”

 

“经营者务必要为购彩者提供应得的奖金，诚实必须是第一位的，否则我们会失去信誉。”Harris还鼓励购彩者买彩票后立即在背后签名字，以确保不会被其他人调换。

 

据悉，明尼苏达州政府计划将检查继续深化，范围扩大到全州。（记者常鹏/译）

 

 

 

Iowa Lottery retail check finds no cheating

Mar 13, 2009, 9:13 am

 

The Iowa Lottery said today it found no evidence that lottery ticket winners were cheated when it conducted security checks last month at 120 retail sites statewide.

 

Three lottery underecover investigators posed as customers and visited 126 randomly-selected Iowa retail locations on Feb. 24 and 25, said Iowa Lottery Vice President Mary Neubauer. They presented 128 winning tickets with cash prizes ranging from $1 to $100.

 

In every instance, the retailer paid the correct amount, Neubauer said.

 

Iowa Lottery Chief Executive Officer Terry Rich issued a statement saying the results show that Iowa's retailers are honest, hard-working people who are the lifeblood of their communities. "But there have been problems involving lottery-ticket redemption outside Iowa, and we thought it was important to double check the process here," he said.

 

The Iowa Lottery's checks were conducted as Iowa Citizens'Aide/Ombudsman William Angrick is finishing work on an independent investigation of the Iowa Lottery's security procedures. Angrick's investigation began last year after questions arose about one Iowa store clerk who won the lottery six times over a 12-month period, collecting $264,000.

 

Angrick declined comment today on his findings, but he said he expects to offer his report to Iowa Lottery officials soon for their review. His report won't be made public until Iowa Lottery officials have an opportunity to respond to his investigation.

 

Neubauer said the Iowa Lottery's checks were in response to cases involving retailer fraud at some of the lotteries in Canada in recent years and recent fraud investigations in California. More than two dozen people working at retail outlets in California have been arrested for grand theft of winning lottery tickets as part of checks by the California Lottery.

 

"While these crimes involve only a small number of our more than 20,000 authorized retailers, we demand that all of our retailers be fair and honest," said California Lottery Director Joan Borucki in a press release.

 

In a Santa Clara County, Calif., sting operation, undercover investigators posing as customers handed clerks decoy winning tickets and asked if they had won. In some instances, the clerks told investigators their ticket was not a winner. The suspects then went on to file a claim with the lottery as if the winning tickets was theirs, California Lottery officials said. The suspects face felony charges that include possible fines and prison terms.

 

The Iowa Lottery is not immune to crime, state officials acknowledge. State lottery security investigators periodically learn of stolen Iowa Lottery tickets, Neubauer said. Most of the theft of Iowa Lottery tickets involves theft by retail employees, although there are occasional instances of burglaries involving lottery tickets, she added.

 

Most cases of stolen Iowa Lottery tickets are quickly solved because the tickets can be easily traced, Neubauer said.

 

The only problem surfacing from the recent checks of Iowa Lottery retailers is that about half of the store clerks didn't require that winning lottery tickets be signed before they were cashed, Neubauer said. The lottery will remind retailers about the importance of obtaining signatures, and will inform them that ongoing violations won't be tolerated.

 

Neubauer said the Iowa Lottery has increased its focus on lottery security over the past few years, warning the public of lottery scams and offering more player security information on its Web site.

 

Last year, the Iowa Lottery began requiring that tickets be signed before they can be checked or cashed, and that receipts be printed for all lotto and scratch tickets that are checked or cashed.

 

The recent checks by Iowa Lottery investigators occurred in 76 Iowa cities located in 54 counties, including Polk County, Neubauer said.

 

 

美国掀起彩票诚信调查

 

 

在加利福尼亚州零售商骗取顾客中奖彩票的事件曝光后，近日，美国各州纷纷掀起了针对彩票欺诈的大规模调查，目前，爱荷华州调查结果出炉，情况明显好于加利福尼亚州。

 

公司暗访未发现欺诈

 

美国爱荷华州彩票公司日前对外界表示，他们在对该州120个彩票零售商上个月的兑奖记录进行调查后发现，并未有任何证据显示携带彩票去兑奖的中奖者有欺诈行为。据悉，该调查涉及到了爱荷华州的76个市和54个县。

 

爱荷华州彩票公司副总裁Mary Neubauer告诉记者，三个暗中进行调查的调查员伪装成顾客的样子，对随机选取的126家爱荷华州彩票零售场所进行了暗访，“他们出示了128张从1美元到100美元不等奖金额的中奖彩票。在每一个零售商处，店主都付给了调查者相应的中奖金额。”

 

爱荷华州彩票公司的首席执行官Terry Rich也发布了一个声明，声称调查结果显示，爱荷华的彩票零售商们都是诚实、勤劳的人，他们都是各自社区的生命线。但他同时也表示：“在爱荷华州之外的地区，确实也存在着一些彩票兑换的问题。鉴于此，我们认为有必要对本地的交易过程进行双重检查。”

 

在对爱荷华彩票进行调查的同时，该州公民援助和申诉专员William Angrick也即将完成对彩票安全程序的独立调查工作。Angrick的调查开始于去年，起因是由于他发现爱荷华州一家商店的店员在12个多月的时间里，共中得了6次彩票奖金，奖金额累计达到了26.40万美元。

 

但Angrick拒绝就他的调查结果发表看法，他期待着能够尽快把调查报告提供给爱荷华州的彩票官员们。“我的报告要等到爱荷华州彩票官员对该调查做出回应之后，才会公布于众。”

 

保证加强彩票安全

 

Neubauer表示，爱荷华州的检查就是对近年加拿大和最近加利福尼亚州一些彩票零售店的欺诈行为作出的反应。

 

在加利福尼亚超过24个彩票零售商因盗窃罪入狱后，加利福尼亚主管Joan Borucki说道：“盗窃、骗取中奖彩票的罪犯只是我们20000多个彩票经销商中的一小部分，绝大部分的销售员都是公平和诚实的。”

 

国家彩票安全调查员对爱荷华州彩票零售商进行了定期调查，他们表示，虽然目前并没有查到爱荷华州有彩票欺诈行为，但这不能说明爱荷华州的彩票销售不存在任何问题。在调查中，他们发现有一半以上零售商都没有嘱咐中奖者在彩票上签字，“彩票公司应该就签字的重要性提醒广大零售商。”

 

Neubauer还告诉记者，爱荷华州彩票公司在过去的几年里已经加强了对于彩票安全的监管。“我们一直都在警告公众彩票的花招骗局有哪些，还会在自己的彩票网站上向购彩者提供更多的安全信息。”

 

从去年开始，爱荷华州彩票公司要求所有的彩票在兑奖之前都要签好名字，并为所有的乐透游戏印刷了收据，而中奖的即开彩票则可以当场兑奖。