Good for her, and they should send this idiot to prison for 10 years or deport him if he was not born here...after he spends some time in prison and ownership of the store should be turned over to her as punishment for his dishonesty, at least his share of the store. 

They need to make it mandatory in all states like in Illinois that the machine clearly shows how much the ticket is worth when it is scanned, visible to the customer. 

Maybe, I just don't understand whats going on in the world. I know the economy is struggling but,
have things gotten so bad in this country that 10,000 dollars is worth a 20 year prison sentence?

Lucky woman.  She was smart enough to sign the ticket at least.   I too would be incredibly suspicious if I saw the name on the back of a ticket being scratched out.

I'm taking more advantage now of those self-serve ticket reading machines.  More should too.

Glad she got her money, enjoy your trip.

 just shoot him in public and close the store and be done with it 

Someone so at ease with telling a customer that a $10,000 ticket is worth $3 sounds very practiced to me.  My guess is that few of these pathetic crooks are caught their first time.  Their past "successes" surely make them feel like they'll continue getting away with it.

If someone is that smooth and slick, makes you wonder if anyone should be trusted to check your numbers. Just use the scanner, or better yet

your computer to retrieve the lottery website.

The photo's of this human garbage, should be posted everywhere, to further discourage and humiliate the other would be scammers. 

 Mrs. Kwok should be allowed that pleasure. 

Scammer with the Scanner is in jail and the true winner is one step closer to a much deserved Disney vacation.

I love Happy Endings!

Good for her ,she got 10,000 for a dollar,and he got twenty years for three dollars.I love it when goofballs get caught,because if he did it once ,it will happen again.(not for a while now)lol

Have fun on your vacation,...........................................and to the store owner don't have fun on your vacation in the slammer.

Congras Ms. Kwok I am so glad you signed your ticket enjoy your vacation....... Shame on you Alhindi.....

Sadly, this is the lesson that has been taught to us by bussness owners all across the United States : It's o.k. to try and screw someone out of money that is rightfully theirs.  Big corporations do it on a daily basis.  Greed is the new supply and demand mantra for business.  Lying and cheating is the new code of ethics.  Overcharge the bejeezus out of your customer is the new mission statement.  We must all stop and give thanks to our government for setting the standard of business philosophy in the 21st century.

These stories keep popping up.

Store owners and clerks that lie to and steal from  their customers seem to be more and more common place.

Also problematic scanners are being reported.

Seems the only person or thing you can trust to check your winnings is yourself.

I don't understand why people don't ask for print outs when they go to check their numbers.

This allows you to keep a record of the winning numbers with you which you can check over and over again if you don't believe you actually won.

I always check my own tickets on the web. Louisiana changed its lottery terminals so there is a small display where the customer can see it, that will show how much a ticket it after it's scanned. However, many retailers don't have it in an obvious place and some don't have it out at all.

I'm glad this thief got caught, hope he goes down for a long time.

If I can't trust the convinient store I frequent then I dont wanna shop there any more.

The Store Person Just Made A Mistake 

People, you're all forgetting one important detail here...YOU'RE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN TICKET...AND THE CLAIMING OF IT. Okay, so she wrote her name on the back of it like she  always does which is very good practice...and saved her in this case. However, this never would've even made the news had she PROPERLY CHECKED AND VALIDATED HER OWN TICKET AS A LEGIT WINNER. Never play any game which you don't know how to properly check for winnings...PERIOD.

Now, of course the clerk was dead wrong for doing what he did...sure he was. We should be able to trust those clerks. But, this is the kind of world we live in people...and she was dealing with money, or, the possibility of it. It was her responsibility to correctly validate the ticket. This is why I've always said to get a print out of the winning numbers to compare to your numbers versus the payouts.

Like others here, I wonder just how long he's been doing this and getting away with other winning tickets...this ain't his first rodeo people. Stores are required to print out and maintain slips with the winning numbers right next to the register or in the vicinity thereof. Use them and stop trusting those <snip> clerks!!!!

If this stings a little bit, it's suppose to because the truth often hurts.

L.L.

WTF?

unfortunately it gets to the point that there are no more shops to go to!!!

i cant go five miles every time i want to play a front pair!!

i might as well just leave the state!! go to new jersey where all the "honest clerks" work.

The Louisiana Lottery security folks are the heros of this story.  The easy thing would be to ignore the scratched out name and simply pay out the prize.  But they lifted the crossed out signature, figured out the spelling in the signature, and actually managed to track down the person whose signature was crossed out. 

That is some FANTASTIC detective work.

HATS OFF to the Lousiana Lottery for caring to check it out, and having the wherewithal to track down the real winner.

I just have to wonder if i have ever been cheated.  I walk into a store, ask to clerk to check my ticket as i walk elsewhere in the store to pick up a snack. Several times, she would say, you won $3 or $5 or $10 and i just trust her. But, no more!!!

They sure did, being so stupid they thought they'd get away with changing the name on the back of the ticket.

i think i prob have been ripped off.  and just recently too. not a large amount, but  even so ive played for 20+ years. im sure a few smaller wins have slipped thru.

anyhow , way the gov snooping is going they can prob just run some finger prints thru the TSA computer and find everyone whos touched that ticket, too easy.

glad this happened now theres 1 less theif checking lottery tickets for the time being

I always triple check my tickets.  Kwoks problem was that  she had established a relationship with the store employes and owner.  So she trusted them.  How was she to know? Like I said.  I triple check my numbers becaus money changes folks. I'm just glad she got her miponey. I'm ecastic that they shut all of that sorry (6 letter, 6 more letters) lottery down in all of his stores. YES!

old ways of old days, let her decide his punishment. imho jail and the loss of the cost of his imprisonment.

It's sad that the world is like it is, but smart players always know and tell the clerk how much they won.

I always try to go to the same convenience store to cash my winners.  They know my face in there, and since I tell the clerk how much I won, there's never a problem.  Some times when a new clerk I havent seen before appears behind the counter, I make it a point to use the scanner that's located right in front of the lottery terminal. (I always know how much I won long before I walk through the front door of the store. I just scan the ticket to transmit an additional non-verbal message to the new clerk.)

I do that because one time I did not use the scanner, and simply told a new clerk I had won $22.00.  Without any expression on her face, she very matter of factly looked me in the eye and said "Well, the terminal will be the judge of that."  I laughed and smiled, and said "That's true, but the judge is definitely going to rule in my favor."  She said nothing as she checked the ticket, opened the cash drawer and handed me my 22 bucks. 

To this day I wonder what her motivation was to respond to me like she did.  It was probably nothing, and maybe she was just having a tough day, but I couldnt help thinking if I might have slightly annoyed her because I took away her shot at a lousy 22 dollars.   That's the thing, it's just like the Lottery says "You never know."  Maybe the guy behind the counter is honest, and maybe he isnt.  I try to always look for the best in people, but you just never know.

Buddy, I extend mad props to you on both your thinking and execution of ticket validations! This is where any and all troubles with tickets ends...period. Your first sentence is absolutely GOLDEN and the first paragraph, PLATINUM, has every supporting detail needed to avoid clerical issues. I'm personally having a hard time, in this case, with having any sympathy due to exactly what you've laid down as the law.

When it comes to games like this where lots of money can potentially be involved, I'm a firm believer in personal responsibility. Even more so, and importantly, exclusion (anonymity) is a huge factor here. By checking one's own ticket, the player is much, much SAFER in case the ticket is a huge winner like $200K or so. I don't want any clerk in my business because you never know what it could lead to...could be death.

Players should stop being so casual, maybe even lazy, and do the extra leg work to retain their privacy and SAFETY. Just my .02 and your response is TOPS!!!!!

L.L.

If the Lotteries were willing to do the right thing and truly wanted to stop the scams they would tell players the truth: You can't trust the clerks to check your tickets.

They should include that advice in their literature and advertising.

But they don't cuz it doesn't sound good for business.

All Lottery Post Members who have paid attention to the never ending reports of clerks ripping off players know better but the general public and casual or occasional players just don't know about this.

It's good that this crook was caught but it's not enough to hope for justice after the fact. The Lotteries should take a pro-active and preemptive approach to this scandal that most people don't even know about.

And that should begin by just telling people the truth - you can't trust lottery clerks to check your tickets.