A Long Island, N.Y. deli owner and his son allegedly scammed a customer out of a $1 million lottery ticket, Nassau County police reported on Saturday.
57-year-old Nabil Jaghab and Karim Jaghab, 26, were arrested Friday from their deli store in Hempstead, after they allegedly paid a customer $1,000 for the winning voucher.
The two insisted that the entire event was a misunderstanding, and that they'd discarded of the ticket, according to court documents obtained by Newsday. The ticket was found and given back to the customer shortly after.
The 34-year-old man who won the ticket originally entered the deli on Peninsula Blvd. Thursday to buy a "$10 Unwrap The Cash" scratcher. The man, who does not speak English, gave the ticket to Karim after he realized he'd won. When the younger Jaghab passed the ticket over a scanner, a message from New York State announced that the winner had to claim the money, Newsday reported. Jaghab instead told the man that he'd won $1,000 and handed it over in cash.
When the winner came back to the store the next day with suspicions that he'd been duped, Jaghab reportedly replied, "OK, I will pay you $10,000 as long as you don't involve the police."
The Jaghabs currently face grand larceny charges, according to the Associated Press.
