A Thai woman winning 30 million baht in a lottery turned out to be a prank by granddaughter.
Luan Thananchai, a resident of Phayao’s Chiang Muan district, was overjoyed when her 13-year-old granddaughter told her she had won 30 million baht (RM3.9mil) in a lottery.
On Friday evening, word spread like wildfire on social media that Luan had won the first prize in a Sep 1 lottery draw.
Facebook users shared a photo of a beaming Luan displaying the lottery ticket and the news drew a lot of relatives to her house.
Her son, Sompol Thananchai, 35, an assistant chief of Tambon Ban Bang administration also rushed back home before the end of office hours on Friday.
At first, Luan would not show her lottery tickets to her son but eventually did so later that night.
When Sompol saw the tickets, he asked his mother who had checked the prizes for her. She said his 13-year-old daughter did after she promised to buy the teenager a new smartphone and motorcycle if she won a big prize.
According to Luan, the girl disappeared for a while before she returned to tell her that she had won the first prize.
Luan said she then took a photo to share with a group of close relatives.
Sompol then told his mother that she had not really won the first prize because one number had been pasted over with a number from an old ticket.
On hearing this, the devastated woman’s blood pressure shot up and she had to be rushed to hospital.
Her condition improved and she was discharged on Saturday.
Sompol apologised to the community, saying his daughter played a prank to share among her relatives and she did not expect it would spread so widely on social media.