THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 4, 1994 TAG: 9411040736
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN E. QUINONES MILLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
A Bingo lottery ticket scam, which police say originated in Hampton Roads, may have netted up to $100,000 at $25 per altered ticket.
Police have arrested Christina Tussing, 37, of the 9300 block of Chelsea Drive.. And police said arrest warrants have been issued for Richard ``Rickey'' James, 46, of the 100 block of Suburban Parkway.
Altering a lottery ticket is a felony.
The scam involved $2 lottery tickets. The validation codes at the top and bottom of the tickets were changed to indicate that the cards were winners, according to Paula Otto, spokeswoman for the Virginia State Lottery.
On the left of the card is a grid with 24 hidden caller's numbers. On the right are Bingo games. Players must scratch off the numbers on the caller's grid and try to match them with numbers on the Bingo's game in a winning pattern. The playing grids on the cards were not altered, Otto said.
Prizes of $25 or less can be paid on the spot, but the validation number of any card that pays more must be verified by the state lottery headquarters in Richmond.
``What happens is that some operators will look at the validation code to verify a win without ever looking at
the playing grid,'' Otto said. She would not explain how the alterations were made.
Otto said retailers have been cautioned to be on the lookout for fraudulent cards, and have urged them to ask winners for identification. The bad tickets began showing up in July, she said.
The Bingo game pays awards of $2, $3, $4, $5, $10, $15, $20, $50, $100, $1,000, $5,000 and $15,000. It's possible to win more than one prize on a single card, which is how the suspects were able to win $25 on one ticket.
Lottery officials said most of the altered tickets were yellow. The yellow tickets were replaced by purple ones on Oct. 13. Some purple cards also were altered, Otto said.
Police said both suspects are charged with passing altered tickets in Norfolk, Chesapeake, Hampton, Virginia Beach and Danville.
Larry Hill, spokesman for the Norfolk Police Department, said:
``This guy James seems to be doing more of these than anybody else, but now it seems that there are more people involved. At one point when we went into the outlets and showed a picture of James, the operators confirmed that he was the one who cashed in the tickets. Now, it seems, he's taught other people how to alter the tickets.''
Lottery officials said Tussing admitted teaching the technique to others. ``She had been arrested before on the same charge, and she said while she was in jail she taught some inmates how to alter the cards,'' said Otto.
Hill said the scam may have involved $75,000 to $100,000 in illicit winnings. He said more arrests are expected.
Police are asking anyone with information about the whereabouts of James or any information about anyone altering lottery cards to notify the crime line in their area. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Norfolk police want Richard James of Suburban Parkway in a scam that
may have netted $100,000.
Color photo
The scam involved changing validation codes on the top and bottom of
the ticket. The scam's success relied on operators looking at the
validation letters to verify wins without cross-checking the grid on
the left with the grids on the right.
These validation numbers are only verified with the Richmond office
if the ticket prize is more than $25.
KEYWORDS: LOTTERIES SCAMS by CNB