Man Found Guilty Of £79k Lottery Fraud

A shop worker has been found guilty of trying to con a lottery syndicate out of more than £79,000.

Imran Pervais, 26, was said to have misled a group after their winning ticket matched five balls and the bonus ball.

As a result, the ticket was worth £79,887, but Mr Pervais told the group they had only won £10.

Pervais had been working at a convenience store in the town in May 2012 when the victim checked four lottery tickets. Callum Crosier puts on 28 lines a week as part of a work syndicate for himself and 27 colleagues at Morrisons Utility Services, in Chatham, and said he didn't realise he had fallen victim to fraud until he returned to work and checked the numbers.

Kent Police said Mr Crosier realised one of the lines had in fact matched five numbers, which would earn a prize of £1,000. When he returned to Moores Convenience Store in Mackenzie Way, he was told by Pervais to come back in a couple of hours so he could check the shop for the ticket. However, when Crosier checked the numbers again he realised the bonus ball had also been drawn, resulting in an almost £80,000 fortune.

Returning to the store again, he demanded to be shown the ticket, but was given a number of bin bags to search through before being invited to look behind the counter. Police said some wooden plinths had been removed from the back of the counter, revealing a number of pink winning slips and a screwed-up lottery ticket - with the victim's winning line.

An investigation by Camelot found that all four tickets had been scanned, including the one with the winning prize, leading to the arrest of Pervais, who was convicted of fraud by false representation.

In a statement, it said allegations made against retailers selling lottery tickets were "very rare".

It added: "We have stringent operations in place to prevent and detect fraud and to monitor suspicious activity, and where we believe unlawful activity has taken place, we will not hesitate to work with the appropriate enforcement body."

Sentencing at Maidstone Crown Court was adjourned for reports.

(JP/CD)