Warning Against Fake Social Media Account Of EuroMillions Winners

The National Lottery has issued a warning after fake Twitter accounts of the Northern Irish couple who won the EuroMillions last week emerged online.

Over 46,000 people followed the unverified account for Patrick Connolly, from Moira in County Down, who took the £115million jackpot along with his wife Frances in the New Year's draw.

The social media account was offering £50k to 50 'lucky' followers.

Although the National Lottery has not confirmed if the pair use the online platform, the suspect account misspelled their surname, causing the suspicion.

The service tweeted: "We are aware that there have been some fake profiles set up. If you see any that you believe to be fake, please report them to Twitter.

"If something looks too good to be true, it probably is.

"Winners of The National Lottery and other lotteries are sometimes falsely imitated on the internet in a variety of ways, often to try to make people believe they are going to be entitled to money."

Set up in recent days, the suspect profile only contains photographs of the couple made public since their big lotto win, and according to the page, 50 twitter 'winners' have already been chosen.

Twitter has a strict Impersonation Policy which says "accounts portraying another person in a confusing or deceptive manner may be permanently suspended".

However, both accounts claiming to be Patrick Connolly are still active so lotto fans are being urged to be vigilant and report them.



(JG/CM)