Facebook estimates that the article has been shared more than 1,800 times.
“UJ student photoshopped a winning lotto ticket and collected millions, before skipping the country,” the headline reads.
With the help of an unnamed inside man, the offender, “Sizwe Duma”, photoshopped three winning lottery tickets and used a fake ID to collect millions of unclaimed winnings in Gauteng province, the article claims.
The money was then sent to an offshore account and used to buy Bitcoin, an “untraceable” electronic currency.
“His fingerprints gave him away otherwise we wouldn’t know who he was, the whole thing was planned water tight,” the police are quoted as saying.
But the article doesn’t provide any further detail on the incident. And no other news service has reported on it.
National lottery confirms news is fake
When the “news” reached Twitter, many users expressed admiration for the student who successfully duped the national lottery.
“Sizwe my role model”, one user tweeted.
Sizwe: 1; Lotto: 0, another joked.
Sizwe 1 lotto 0 pic.twitter.com/13YGrhZL6j
— LeboKING (@Esau_tholi) April 25, 2019
But the national lottery’s Twitter account was quick to put the rumour to bed.
“Ithuba has become aware of the news that is currently being circulated regarding a University of Johannesburg student who allegedly photoshopped a Lottery ticket & used it to claim winnings. We can confirm that this is fake news & no such incident has taken place,” an April 25th tweet reads.
FAKE NEWS ALERT!
Ithuba has become aware of the news that is currently being circulated regarding a University of Johannesburg student who allegedly photoshopped a Lottery ticket & used it to claim winnings. We can confirm that this is fake news & no such incident has taken place pic.twitter.com/nmqkJZ6uY0
— #PhandaPushaPlay (@sa_lottery) April 25, 2019
The lottery also has high-security measures that would immediately identify invalid claims. - Africa Check (14/05/19)
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