Two Homeless Men Are on The Run with a $523,000 Lottery Ticket They Purchased With Stolen Credit Card, Victim's Lawyer is Offering to Drop Charges and Split Winnings if They Turn It In
ALAIN JOCARD. Getty Images.(not a homeless guy from the story, just a for instance)
PARIS (AP) — Thieves used a stolen card to buy a winning French lottery ticket worth 500,000 euros ($523,000). But they vanished before cashing in —- and now they’re among France’s most famous fugitives.
The man whose card was stolen, identified in police documents as Jean-David E., is offering to split the cash with the lucky winners. He wants his wallet back, too.
The thieves, meanwhile, face the risk of arrest. As of Saturday, the state lottery operator La Française des Jeux, or FDJ, said that no one had submitted the ticket to cash out.
″It’s an incredible story, but it’s all true,″ Jean-David’s lawyer, Pierre Debuisson, told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Jean-David discovered earlier this month that his backpack had been stolen from his car in the southern city of Toulouse, including bank cards and other documents, the lawyer said. Jean-David asked his bank to block the card, and learned it had already been used in a local shop.
At the shop, a vendor told him two apparently homeless men had used one of his cards to buy the winning scratch-off lottery ticket.
“They were so totally happy that they forgot their cigarettes and their belongings and walked out like crazy people,” Debuisson said.
What a difficult predicament to find yourself in as a crazy homeless person. Had they simply won a lottery ticket worth a few hundred dollars, it would have all been so simple. Cash the ticket at the tobacco shop, spend all your winnings on French fentanyl, and hate your life a little bit less for the next few days as you nod off around a raging barrel fire.
But you hit a ticket for $523,000… so now you have a task on your hands. Multiple tasks. Even setting aside the fact that the ticket was purchased with a stolen credit card… do you know how difficult it is for a crazy French homeless person to complete the necessary steps to actually cash in on a $532,000 lottery ticket? First you need to locate the Française des Jeux (French lottery office). Once you're there, you have to fill out forms. They'll almost certainly require multiple official forms of identification. Probably a social security number or something to go along with it. Those are all monumental feats for a duo crazy homeless men with half-a-brain between the two of them to complete.
Even if they managed to do all that, I doubt the Française des Jeux is just going to hand them cash. They probably need a bank account as well. Again, even if the ticket wasn't purchased with a stolen credit card, the only way they'd stand a chance to cash in is if they were able to find a fully brained individual and promise them a portion of their winnings to help them get their affairs in order. And given the shady circles that I'm sure these homeless fugitives most likely run in, I'd put their odds of that person completely ripping them off and taking all the winnings for themselves at about 80%.
So all things considered, the fact that they purchased this ticket with a stolen credit card might be the best thing that could have happened to them. The only thing they have to do now is bring their ticket to this lawyer, and the lawyer will do all the leg work. Sure they'll have to split the winnings with the man who's credit card they stole. But they have a real shot at walking away from this thing $100k richer. When you think about all the things that could go wrong for a homeless person holding a $523,000 lottery ticket… the situation these guys are in right now legitimately might be best case scenario.
The only thing now that could fuck them over now, besides their own poor decision making, is the French government stepping in and seizing the winnings entirely.
Jean-David filed a police complaint about the theft, but is ready to withdraw it if the thieves come forward so that they can share the money, Debuisson said.
″Without them, no one would have won,″ Jean-David said on public broadcaster France-2.
Prosecutors may try to seize the winnings, considering them illegally obtained gains, the lawyer said.
I don't know how likely that is, but it sure seems like something a government would do. Claim that since the ticket was obtained by illegal means, nobody gets the money. Not even the person who got the credit card stolen. They void the ticket entirely and the lottery doesn't have a pay out a dime. It would be extremely bullshit, but in many ways it would be the most believable conclusion to this entire saga.
Be smart crazy homeless guys. For some reason, the French people are on your side. They want to see you get something. If you haven't already lost the in some sort of hair-brained Looney Tunes Bubbles From The Wire-esque scheme, finding this lawyer and splitting the money is your only option. The ticket has been flagged. Even with all the proper documentation, you won't be able to cash it in. You won't be able to have a shady friend do it either. Before long it's going to expire. If you want any shot at seeing any amount of money, you have no choice but to take the lawyer at his word and cross your fingers that some asshole prosecutor doesn't come over the top and void the ticket altogether.