Police may charge a family in the rural northern Phayao province under the Computer Crime Act for pranking each other in a group chat that they had won a THB30 million (USD995,000) lottery jackpot, and sending a photo of their grandmother holding lottery tickets that had been distorted to contain winning numbers.
A representative of the Government Lottery Office filed a complaint with the Crime Suppression Division yesterday after the northern family’s prank photo somehow leaked from their group chat and was widely shared.
The photo shows the family’s 60-year-old grandmother, Luan Thananchai, holding a set of fake winning tickets with a big smile on her face.
According to investigator Suthee Mallikamarn, the lottery office is concerned that the fake news has damaged the office and may affect the public’s trust in their lottery process. Therefore, the office requested an investigation into the matter, Daily News reported.
Luan’s husband Prayong told media that the fake winning tickets were the work of their 13-year-old granddaughter, who cut the numbers from the old lottery tickets and glued them on new tickets, because she wanted her granny to buy her a motorcycle.
Prayong said that his wife promised to buy the girl a brand-new bike only if the family had won a lottery jackpot so the teen made fake winning tickets for her grandmother to pose with and took a photo to share within the family group chat.
Speak to Thairath, Prayong asked the public for sympathy for his granddaughter, who did it because she “didn’t know any better.”
For simply sharing a fake lottery picture, the family could face a maximum of five years in prison and a THB100,000 fine on charges of putting false information into the computer system that could cause damage to the public.
Police are investigating the case.
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