A shopkeeper in Leeds told a deaf 81-year-old man his Euromillions ticket was a loser in order to steal his life-changing winnings.
Narendra Gill, aged 52, stole the almost €160,000 winning ticket from the retired deliveryman after checking it for him at her shop.
Frank Gowland, 81, had no idea he had won the huge prize until police told him that his ticket had been stolen weeks later.
The crime was caught by the organisation Camelot which runs the lottery in the UK.
Staff at the UK National Lottery became suspicious after they heard Ms Gill try to check the ticket over the phone while serving customers at her shop in West Yorkshire.
Ms Gill said she had been working at the shop, which is now closed, in White Rose Shopping Centre but that the ticket had been gifted to her and she was unaware of where it could have been bought.
After being notified by Camelot, police checked CCTV footage which showed Mr Gowland getting into a car at the shopping centre with his wife Sue, 77.
Mr Gowland explained that the situation came as "quite a shock" to him and his wife.
He told The Sun: "The whole thing has been quite a shock.
"I had no clue I'd won until I got this phone call.
"I couldn't hear what the PC was saying, so I asked my stepson to deal with it.
"He said to the officer, "You must be joking, this is a scam". Anyway, it wasn't, and I had won."
Mr Gowland, who wears a hearing aid, said he gave Ms Gill eight tickets in total to check.
She then told him they were all losers and handed him back crumpled tickets. Mr Gowland said he did not realise she had switched them.
The shopkeeper had stolen the winning ticket, which was one of two to win the €160,000 prize after the jackpot rolled over on May 4.
Mr Gowland said: "They told me the woman phoned Camelot, 15 minutes after I left, claiming to have a winning ticket.
"But they smelt a rat. She was lying through her teeth. It's unbelievable really. I might never have known."
The father-of-two received his payout in November last year and said the money had helped him make life "a bit more comfortable".
He has since bought a new car, given money to family, and purchased a walk-in shower for his wife, who has health problems.
Shop manager Gill, from York, admitted theft and fraud and was jailed on Thursday at Leeds crown court for 28 months.
