Ohio Lottery hoax caused chaos
Friday October 16th 2009A store in Columbus was thrown into a living nightmare on Tuesday, after an Ohio Lottery hoax caused chaos. The woman told everyone in the store that she had won $1.5m on the Ohio Lottery and was going to give the lottery money away.
She told everyone that she was going to pay for their purchases which created a flood of people to the store and queues outside as people believed that the woman had won the Ohio Lottery and was going to pay for their goods. Police officers were called to disperse the crowds and soon realised that it was a hoax and that the woman had not won the lottery. She was promptly arrested and could be charged with fraud and inducing panic.
When shoppers learned that the Ohio lottery win was in fact a hoax and that their merchandise would not be paid for, some of them trashed the department store and it had to be closed early to enable staff to clean up.
One shopper actually had her trolley loaded with goods and asked the woman if she was sure she wanted to pay as she couldn’t afford to pay for it herself. The lottery hoax woman replied, ‘honey, I’ve got $1.5 million and have been used all my life, mostly by my family members, this is my turn to give something back’.
This incident will probably leave a bitter taste in the mouth of Ohio residents for some time, and many will think about it every time they buy lottery tickets, especially those who though they were going to have their shopping spree paid for, only to be disappointed by the lottery hoax.