Winner deleted Canada lottery 'scam' email and nearly lost a $1 million jackpot prize
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A Lotto Max winner in Ontario deleted an essential $1 million advisory email from the lottery company because he thought it was a scam.
But as he found out, not every email with the subject title "Lotto Max winner in Ontario" is fake.
And this one was real, but the Canadian father sent it to his trash folder without confirming its identity.
"I saw an email from OLG and deleted it, thinking that it was a scam," Bin Bin Liu explained while collecting his jackpot winnings at the OLG Prize Centre in Toronto.
The 40-year-old Richmond Hill resident was $1 million richer after winning a Maxmillions prize in the September 9, 2022, Lotto Max draw.
Luckily the organization had followed up with a second message, and at that point, Liu thought that he should be taking the whole process seriously.
"When I got the second email, I thought I should log into my account," he decided.
“When I saw $1 million, it was amazing!" he told Lottery officials.
The next step was to convince his wife, who, like him, thought it was a scam since many lotteries will not notify their winners of prizes by email.
He finally realized his win late that night and woke his wife to tell her the good news.
"She thought I was joking. When I showed her, she still didn't believe me. Maybe when I show her the check, she'll finally see it's real," Liu joked.
Liu had signed up online for an OLG lottery subscription in September and bought his ticket on the website.
"I'm over-excited. It feels heavy in my hand, considering it's a piece of paper," said Liu as he described the large check.
When he was asked what he planned to do with his newfound fortune, he said most of it will go toward his children's education.
He also plans to celebrate with a big family dinner later on.
There were a total of six Maxmillions drawings on Friday, September 9. The winning numbers for the Lotto Max draw were 1, 2, 15, 18, 29, 32, and 36, with Bonus 9.
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MAXMILLIONS
When the main Lotto Max jackpot reaches $50 Million, players get even more chances to win. To win a MAXMILLIONS draw, you must match all seven numbers on one line on your ticket. There are no subsidiary prizes.
