$450 million Mega Millions jackpot winner hit by fake Twitter accounts

$450 MILLION MEGA MILLIONS JACKPOT WINNER HIT BY FAKE TWITTER ACCOUNTS

You might think that someone who has just won a $450 million Mega Millions jackpot might afford to be able to give some money away. Well if he does, Shane Missler from Florida, USA, isn’t going to be doing it via his Twitter account.In a week where President Trump has been giving out awards for fake news, it seems there ae plenty of fake accounts online that could rob innocent people of their hard-earned money. The Mega Millions jackpot winner claimed his winnings on January 12 but within days he had gained the attention of online scammers who are using his name to try and make some money.One tweet claiming that the 20-year-old is prepared to hand out some cash has already had 130,000 views but it’s totally fake, just like the EuroMillions scam in Scotland that we told you about.Ever since Missler received his winnings, which in the end was a lump-sum payment of $281,874,999, minus taxes, fake twitter accounts have been set up. One couldn’t even spell the Mega Millions name right and others are based in areas where Missler doesn’t live.One fake Twitter account claims that to receive $5,000, you simply have to retweet or like the post. Yet the fake account was only created on Monday January 15, while the real Twitter account for the Mega Millions winner was set up two years ago. That account was closed down by Twitter, but others are surfacing. One even asks people to send in details of their bank account, Paypal or Venmo information, a sure sign of an attempt to scam people.Roy Cockrum from Tennessee, USA, won a $259.8m Powerball jackpot but then had to warn people to ignore emails, texts and social media claiming to be from him. In England a warning was issued after the names of £53m EuroMillions winners Richard and Angela Maxwell were used. Canadian Bob Erb who won a $25m Lotto Max prize also had his name used by scammers.Missler’s lawyer has confirmed that the Mega Millions jackpot winner is not flaunting his money on social media. He added that a recently set-up Facebook account is also fake.Writing on his official @TheShaneMissler Twitter account, the Mega Millions jackpot winner thanked everyone for their kind words since his big win but commented that fake social media accounts have already surfaced and circulated.Play online with us at Lottery24.com, it's quick and easy.