BEIJING: A man in China learnt the hard way that the Internet is not the place to flaunt good fortune after his lottery winnings vanished the moment he posted a photo of his lucky ticket online,
China Press reported.
He had proudly shared the image in a group chat, only to discover days later that the prize had already been claimed before he even reached the counter.
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Police later found that another member of the group, a man known only as Zhao, had quietly saved the photo and passed it off as his own to a lottery official he happened to know.
Zhao convinced the official to transfer the winnings to him on the pretext that he was out of town, and the transaction went through smoothly as the amount was small and the pair were familiar.
The truth surfaced only when police showed up, prompting Zhao to return the money and apologise, with the victim eventually choosing forgiveness after recovering his stolen windfall.
