Cheat the Lottery Winner

[len01]

The DA’s office said the victim asked Argueta to claim the prize on his behalf to remain anonymous, promising $50,000 of the prize.

Argueta, who lived in Virginia at the time, agreed to claim the prize on the victim’s behalf and drove to New York to receive the winnings.

At the time, though, the New York State Gaming Commission was not accepting winning tickets in person, so Argueta mailed the ticket to the commission on Nov. 13, 202, instead.

Within weeks, Argueta reportedly went to deliver the NYS Lottery paperwork to her cousin, which said the price winnings totaled $20,000. Along with the paperwork, she handed her cousin an envelope with $13,436 in cash, and said the rest was held for taxes.

The victim found a press release from the NYS Lottery website saying Argueta claimed the $1 million prize and received a lump-sum payout of $537,440 after taxes, the DA’s office said.

The DA added that the victim called Argueta, who said she did not have any more money and if continued to call her, she would take legal action. In May 2022, Argueta forfeited $317,857.13 in winnings from her bank account, which were returned to the victim.

[1] https://nypost.com/2023/01/22/texas-woman-pleads-guilty-to-stealing-cousins-1-million-winning-scratch-off-ticket/

The valuable lesson that can be learned from the story above is that if you want to remain anonymous for your lottery winnings, do it yourself, and don't entrust money-related matters to other people ^{(even if that person is someone close to you)}

if i were am victim, i will not reconcile with that cheating cousin, unless she returns all my winnings that she has used, how about you?

in real life money is a very dangerous item, money can break family, relatives, close friends. so dealing with big money should be done alone rather than handing it over to friends or relatives, that would be a different story.

I think it's also worth gambling or betting on online gambling when anonymity will be more maintained on online gambling platforms. I mean when betting on online gambling we may be asked for KYC and maybe some people know us or know when we win big but only certain people know and we can take care of it ourselves when there are problems.
it's different from direct gambling, when we bet, many people will see us, and when we win big, many people will know and of course there will be many who claim to be good friends in a nutshell because they know it's big money. so that later there will be many who claim to be relatives or claim to be close friends when holding a lot of money and in the end they will be deceived.

after reading the article above, I wonder why he didn't just take care of it himself instead of having to involve other people and end up being conned. very sad.

[traderethereum]

The valuable lesson that can be learned from the story above is that if you want to remain anonymous for your lottery winnings, do it yourself, and don't entrust money-related matters to other people ^{(even if that person is someone close to you)}

You can stay anonymous if you're not the one who will personally claim the prize. The risk is, it's hard to trust someone (even your own family) when it comes to money because they can deceive you, just like what happened in this situation. So if you're too concern on your privacy then before you gamble, think of what casino is suited for you to remain anonymous even you happen to win a huge amount.

Well, maybe we just have to choose family members who are honest and can hold the trust we give them.
Beyond that, never give too much trust when it comes to money unless the people we choose really can keep the trust we give.
We can ask the casino to keep our identity as winners secret so we can take the winnings safely.
And the casino can do it for our own safety and they might even help security personnel escort us to our house or directly to the bank to deposit the winnings.

[QueenVera]

This is really a sad story and the most painful part was the chester was her cousin and this things are really making the world turn soar and it now seems no one is to be trusted.
I'm sure no one can really point fingers at the casino because I'm sure they might paid out all the winnigs to the cheating cousin before making such publications because they should be aware of the consequences of publishing wrong information if they didn't make tye full payout.
I hope this also serves as a lesson to the general public and I didn't click on the link to read the full message as I already got pissed off reading the qouted message already.

[Crypto_I.N]

Anonymous matters and the lottery are indeed something that cannot be separated. When a customer wins a lottery at a lottery bet, there are shadows around him stalking him, whether it's a bad person, a relative, maybe even his own family.
back to the topic of the cousin who deceived him, it can be said that it is quite sad with the attitude of his cousin who was entrusted with money, that he deliberately destroyed other people's trust in him, especially regarding money which is sensitive in nature.

[TopTort777]

Cheating always ends with screwing things up. It will be a valuable lesson for everyone. I am surprised that family member decided to cheat on his own blood. How that woman now is going to look in the eyes of other family members. And I wonder how that Argueta is going to repay 200k she managed to spend. If she is going to do that at all.

The whole story is actually a story about trust. Arguela claimed prize and gave only 13k. How suspicious against family member you gonna be, that you go and search for actual prize size? Relationship among family members probably not perfect

[AicecreaME]

Cheating always ends with screwing things up. It will be a valuable lesson for everyone. I am surprised that family member decided to cheat on his own blood. How that woman now is going to look in the eyes of other family members. And I wonder how that Argueta is going to repay 200k she managed to spend. If she is going to do that at all.

The whole story is actually a story about trust. Arguela claimed prize and gave only 13k. How suspicious against family member you gonna be, that you go and search for actual prize size? Relationship among family members probably not perfect

Well, there's really no perfect relationship. However, there are relationships that are functional and truthful despite their imperfections. Family is supposed to be our safe have, turns out, it isn't the case for everyone.

Blood is really no longer thicker than water. Sometimes, those people who matter to you and whom you love and care for will be the ones to stab you at the back and betray you like it's one of the easiest things to do. It's very disappointing because you can hardly trust someone nowadays that won't take advantage of either your weakness, innocence, and kindness.

In this story, greed took over the cousin. I believe everyone of us is good until we choose do the opposite of following our moral compass. So basically, this is a personal choice and is not just a mistake. It's saddening that she let her selfishness control her. The consequences that await here are awful, not just on the legal matter side, but also the damage she's done to their family.

[madnessteat]

Cheating always ends with screwing things up. It will be a valuable lesson for everyone. I am surprised that family member decided to cheat on his own blood. How that woman now is going to look in the eyes of other family members. And I wonder how that Argueta is going to repay 200k she managed to spend. If she is going to do that at all.

The whole story is actually a story about trust. Arguela claimed prize and gave only 13k. How suspicious against family member you gonna be, that you go and search for actual prize size? Relationship among family members probably not perfect

In my opinion, this girl doesn't care about family ties, since she was so dashingly able to steal someone else's winnings. It is better to cut off all relations with such people at once, because if she betrayed once, she is likely to betray again at a convenient opportunity, and it is better not to let such people close to you. Such relatives are very similar to enemies, because you know that you can expect anything from them.

[macson]

The DA’s office said the victim asked Argueta to claim the prize on his behalf to remain anonymous

If the goal is to remain anonymous, it might be better to incorporate and create a separate legal entity to list the assets under.

There was a case years ago where a famous and well known MMA fighter (Rampage Jackson) had ownership of his house listed under his manager's name to retain anonymity.

Later after a messy break up between the two, the manager tried to steal the house, as it was listed under his name. Uncertain as to what the outcome was as it was not well publicized.

If the goal is to be anonymous a better method could be to form a S corporation or LLC (limited liability corp) to claim assets like lottery winnings under.

thanks for this valuable information and it seems not everyone knows about this.

The valuable lesson that can be learned from the story above is that if you want to remain anonymous for your lottery winnings, do it yourself, and don't entrust money-related matters to other people ^{(even if that person is someone close to you)}

That was nonsense. Don't generalize that all people and someone close to us will be the same in that story.

I trust my family and close ones. They won't do that kind of shit to me. Bad luck just happens to that winner and not all family do have snakes like that.

Since when has it become a lesson to never trust someone close to you? There should be a footnote on that as we have a different set of relatives and close persons.

that's true if we can classify it in general, but have you ever tried to trust that much money to a cousin or maybe someone closest to you?  i think there's nothing wrong with remaining skeptical of everyone so that the relationship remains strong, people will definitely change according to conditions, especially when it comes to big money.

[Yatsan]

Cheating always ends with screwing things up. It will be a valuable lesson for everyone. I am surprised that family member decided to cheat on his own blood. How that woman now is going to look in the eyes of other family members. And I wonder how that Argueta is going to repay 200k she managed to spend. If she is going to do that at all.

The whole story is actually a story about trust. Arguela claimed prize and gave only 13k. How suspicious against family member you gonna be, that you go and search for actual prize size? Relationship among family members probably not perfect

In my opinion, this girl doesn't care about family ties, since she was so dashingly able to steal someone else's winnings. It is better to cut off all relations with such people at once, because if she betrayed once, she is likely to betray again at a convenient opportunity, and it is better not to let such people close to you. Such relatives are very similar to enemies, because you know that you can expect anything from them.

Money is just too powerful that it would push someone to cut even family ties. Whether she has her own reasons, but be sure that she would be able to spend the money responsibly. Once greed take over her, she's more likely to be found on the same position again before the incident, without her family on her back. This is somehow a common thing with such incident. There were even instances people are hidning their winnings from their wive or other family members but as I've mentioned they have their own reason. Maybe they know how their winnings would be spend easily without being responsible to it. But this is a different story.

[bittraffic]

that's true if we can classify it in general, but have you ever tried to trust that much money to a cousin or maybe someone closest to you?  i think there's nothing wrong with remaining skeptical of everyone so that the relationship remains strong, people will definitely change according to conditions, especially when it comes to big money.

We just don't know what other people have in mind when conditions favor them.  It pays to be aware of what could happen when you entrust a large sum since it could turn a volt.

While I wanted to be anonymous also, can't the lottery have that option for thier winners?
They can publish the name but not a photo at least because that would put the winner a target for robbers.

[virasisog]

that's true if we can classify it in general, but have you ever tried to trust that much money to a cousin or maybe someone closest to you?  i think there's nothing wrong with remaining skeptical of everyone so that the relationship remains strong, people will definitely change according to conditions, especially when it comes to big money.

We just don't know what other people have in mind when conditions favor them.  It pays to be aware of what could happen when you entrust a large sum since it could turn a volt.

While I wanted to be anonymous also, can't the lottery have that option for their winners?
They can publish the name but not a photo at least because that would put the winner a target for robbers.

Even the closest person to you could betray you because of money temptation. Remember that money is the root of all evil and some people are willing to sacrifice good relationships just because of money. You shouldn't trust too much because anyone could betray you especially if huge money is involved. At least, the winner's cousin has shown her true colors and it will only serve the winner as a lesson not to trust quickly.
Anyone could get tempted because of greed and if we have to do something for money, we must do it on our own.

[pawanjain]

Another example of why we should not trust even our blood relative when it comes to dealing with financial matters.
Money is something which can turn a brother against brother. This is why I tend to handle all my money related matters myself.
It can be anything but we should practice to do all things by ourselves.

[livingfree]

It's my money and I wouldn't entrust that to anybody. I'll claim it and will still remain anonymous despite that concern about anonymity.

When its come to my money, I wouldn't allow anyone to be trusted with it especially if it's a huge amount of money that I've won.

I wouldn't be lazy not to take it and will even be quick to take it.

like the man who wears a mascot when the lottery management wants a photo of him with the biggest cheque right? 

i didn't understand either why she risk by asking her cousin to do it for her. her family is probably thinking she plans to hide her lottery wins to avoid sharing them with her family.

Yeah, I'll just wear something to cover my entire body and will just buy new clothes ready to be disposed so that no one will really know who I am.

When money is involved, you just can't be sure with someone you'll trust to and that's why trust no one.

It's my money and I wouldn't entrust that to anybody. I'll claim it and will still remain anonymous despite that concern about anonymity.

When its come to my money, I wouldn't allow anyone to be trusted with it especially if it's a huge amount of money that I've won.

I wouldn't be lazy not to take it and will even be quick to take it.

I can see the victim being at fault in this part of the story so I agree with you. You can never be too trusting of people regardless of blood or whatever affiliation. People nowadays would trade you for a hotdog so you have to really be on the lookout, especially for life-changing events like these.

We even see people ready to exchange their identities just for a few bucks of free airdrops. That's why if it's a big amount that's being talked on, well, go ahead and take your time in taking it.

There are too many ways of hiding your identity when you're about to claim it, I want to experience that someday but I guess no hopes on it.

[AbuBhakar]

Another example of why we should not trust even our blood relative when it comes to dealing with financial matters.
Money is something which can turn a brother against brother. This is why I tend to handle all my money related matters myself.
It can be anything but we should practice to do all things by ourselves.

Yeah, the most cruel and greedy thing was his cousin deduct a tax on the small money that she gave just to show it as legit winnings because tax applied. I believe Argueta decided to return the money after the real winner give a threat to him because a simple case that will subpoena his bank account details will be caught her and enough to face jail time.

There’s no way to become anonymous on claiming lottery prize since anyone in the lottery board can tract all the connection of the cousins to get the info of real winner if there’s really someone who will be interested on the prize money.

[Jating]

Another example of why we should not trust even our blood relative when it comes to dealing with financial matters.
Money is something which can turn a brother against brother. This is why I tend to handle all my money related matters myself.
It can be anything but we should practice to do all things by ourselves.

Maybe in this case, the person really turn greedy, maybe he/she has a problem financially and thought that this is the chance to get out. But just come to think of it, that's huge money to begin with and why you should trust anyone with that kind of amount just because you wanted to remain anonymous? So I would agree that we should tend and handle all our money related, whether it's an issue that we need to settle or in this case a big lottery winner. I used to ask family members as well to withdraw money in my behalf, but the good thing is that they didn't cheat on me. But in this case, this is a bad example of family members turn bad.

[BobK71]

Every human being should take some caution. Especially in the financial field, no other person should be referred. It is said that almost everything is weak in this world to money. Friendship or relation can survive here. It was a lottery where amount was a big deal, so definitely winner's fatal mistake. It's not unusual that has been done. Here lottery winner did the mistake. Where he had to go but should not allow others. If you want to stay in anonymous, you could do it in the online based lottery. It is happen only for the winner's indifference.

[carlfebz2]

Every human being should take some caution. Especially in the financial field, no other person should be referred. It is said that almost everything is weak in this world to money. Friendship or relation can survive here. It was a lottery where amount was a big deal, so definitely winner's fatal mistake. It's not unusual that has been done. Here lottery winner did the mistake. Where he had to go but should not allow others. If you want to stay in anonymous, you could do it in the online based lottery. It is happen only for the winner's indifference.

Specially on someone who do have struggled on daily living and even if it was your relative or close in blood, it cant really be that so sure that they would really be that loyal and would be following on what you had

mandated or the things that you have instructed to them.This is why im not really that too much comfortable on making up some transactions specially with money to be entrusted into someone.

You cant really just trust up someone when it comes to that because changes and odds that it would be ran away or you would be fooled out is high.Its not really that bad
and hard to claim up your winnings if you are really that eager to.

[noormcs5]

Next time don't use too bright glow colors on opening threads since it hurts to see such kind of posts. You can empasize it by bolding it or using italicized texts.

Well, people want to emphasize some texts but making it highlight yellow does not look good on the forums. Its become quite irritating to read it.
I remember we use to highlight the text with yellow highlight in our college life but that was on the books. On the forum, bold certain portion is enough to make it prominent.

Well, it's a good thing that she had get what she really have and it's a lesson for these winners that if you won on lotteries, you'd surely not need to be anonymous since we don't know if someone even close to you will backstab you. It should have been worst if Argueta run away with those winnings and never leave a shadow behind.

I don't think this is a lesson here to not be anonymous in case you won something good in lotteries and gambling. Yes, your near and dear ones can also try to snatch your winnings but being anonymous is a precautionary step and we should try to remain anonymous as much as we can.

[Obari]

if i were am victim, i will not reconcile with that cheating cousin, unless she returns all my winnings that she has used, how about you?

Well a bread at hand is worth two in bush and since she has forfeited that reasonable sum of over $300k, I see no reasons to beat myself up since actually there was nothing I practically would do to her.
But this whole story typically revolves around trust and the cousin who cheated has lost a family who trusted her so much to even let her handle her money in her absence and I'm sure this will serve as a big lesson to the victim and noy just the victim to the entire universe as a whole.
And another lesson I've learnt in this story is fighting against greed and also staying contented and the cousin who cheated stayed contented, without getting so greedy, would have planned her life around the free $50k that was offered to her Instead choose greed.
Hope we a learn too

[Solosanz]

When you're dealing with centralized company, you must know if there's no way you can become anonymous because they will ask your KYC in the future, even it's not written in their rules or terms. Lottery, slot, and any other gambling form will get controlled by centralized party since the funds belong to them, they have 100% control over the money and it's up to them to pay or not to the winner. If you think your identity is more valuable than the winning prize, the gambler shouldn't try to join the lottery.