Despite fraudsters stealing his debit card details and using them to buy a winning lottery ticket, the victim has no entitlement to the money. The UK National Lottery has told Joshua Addyman that he has no claim to the ￡4m ($5m) top prize from a scratch card in 2019.

The fraudsters bought the scratch card while in London and embarked on a five-day drinking spree following the win. They raised suspicions after telling the lottery operator Camelot that they didn’t have a bank account and subsequently claimed that their friend gave them a debit card to buy the ticket.

The investigation led to them pleading guilty to charges of fraud and receiving a custodial sentence. The jackpot will go to the National Lottery Good Causes after the statutory limitation period expires.

only discovered the truth behind the story when The Sun contacted him last week

The authorities did not tell Addyman about the lottery jackpot. When they asked Joshua to appear in court towards the end of 2020, he refused to attend as it was during the peak of the pandemic and he “didn’t want to go to a court room full of people just for my card getting stolen.” The 29-year-old only discovered the truth behind the story when The Sun contacted him last week.

A Greater Manchester Police (GMP) spokesperson told local media that it carried out a complete investigation into the fraud and gave appropriate updates to the victim to maintain the case’s integrity.