One Simple Mistake on Facebook Cost This Woman $900

November 4, 2015

An Australian woman who bragged about her winning horse race bet on social media soon found her prize money stolen.

The woman, Chantelle, had won $900 after betting on 100-to-1 shot Prince of Penzance and jockey Michelle Payne in Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup. She posted a smiling selfie with the winning ticket and the caption “Winner winner chicken dinner” to her Facebook.

Fifteen minutes after posting the selfie, however, when the Perth resident went to collect her winnings, she discovered that one of her “friends” on the social networking site had used the ticket barcode visible in her picture to claim the $900 prize themselves, according to Triple M.

“Someone had a pretty good game at filtering my picture and cutting out my barcode and putting it into an automated machine,” Chantelle told the station.

She also went back to Facebook to scold the unknown perpetrator, writing:

“To the low life who is obviously my friend on Facebook and used my photo to claim our winnings. You’re a massive dick. You ruined my day.”

Western Australian police had tracked down the machine used to withdraw the money and believe they can identify whoever is responsible, according to Chantelle.

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