A man is accused is accused of lying to family and friends about winning a £171m EuroMillions jackpot.
Rob Strain (33 years old) from Newcastle claimed that he won cash right after September 23rd draw. He also said that he would be hiding with his family and friends in text messages.
The 33-year old gloated at his local shop and claimed he had won the third largest Lottery prize.
Strain is a roofing contractor who lost his job in the pandemic. He was accused of posting snaps claiming that he was interested in huge new houses.
And in more claims about his ‘luxury’ lifestyle, he allegedly told people that he was shopping for fancy cars and on the look out for private security.
His Newcastle home was quickly charmed by the tall stories of this fantasist.
The ruse soon unravelled and suspicious people began to notice that the “millionaire” and his girlfriend had borrowed money.
Rob Strain (33-year-old from Newcastle) claimed that he won cash right after September 23rd draw. He said he would be hiding with his family and friends and sending texts to them.
The 33-year old gloating in his local shop said that he had won the third largest Lottery prize ever
Camelot, a lottery company, stated in a statement that one UK ticket holder had won and claimed the cash. However their identity was not disclosed.
Andy Carter of Camelot was a Senior Winners’ Advisor with The National Lottery. He said: “What an amazing year it has been for UK EuroMillions player.
“We are thrilled to have been awarded a claim on the third largest ever win. We look forward to helping the ticket-holder to get started to experience their life-changing win.”
Strain is a roofing contractor who had lost his job due to the pandemic. He boasted that he was currently looking at large homes and claimed that Strain was no longer working. He also claimed that he was looking for luxury cars and private security.
Many people who were taken in by the alleged lies of his have been devastated. One man said that he felt he was offering a helping hand to the couple when he loaned them money.
He owns his own company and said that the incident made him feel sick.
A family source told the Sun: ‘Some people have fallen for his story and given him money, but most of us know he’s deluded and that it’s all lies and he’s on the take.
‘He’s been to view three mansions, including one for £3.9million. It wasn’t for him and he had to think about it. You can pull the other one. He boasted of his love for shopping for Bentleys.
He asked for a favour from the woman working in the shop. She would lend her a caravan to conceal his identity.
Sources said it isn’t something that lottery winners do.
Strain took in a number of people, including one man, who claimed that he felt he was offering help to the couple when he loaned them money.
The 33-year-old’s alleged fake lotto win comes after he previously told Chronicle Live about losing his £2,000-a-month job due to Covid.
According to him, he had applied for Universal Credit but that did not happen.
Strain said that the DWP advised him to get to a foodbank if he became hungry on the August bank holiday.
MailOnline reached Strain to obtain comment.
A Camelot spokesperson said: ‘We issued a statement on 25 September in relation to the £171m EuroMillions jackpot being claimed by a lucky UK ticket-holder. At this point, we don’t have any additional information to make to our claim.