Abhi Shah tracked down the woman who mistakenly gave the ticket back to be thrown out after believing she hadn't won any money.
A Massachusetts woman had nearly missed out on winning $1 million from a scratch-off lottery ticket when an honest convenience store owner tracked her down and gave the ticket back. Believing she had lost, Lea Fiega handed the lottery ticket back to the store's owner to be thrown out and walked out without bothering to scratch off the rest of the numbers.
Abhi Shah, whose family owns the store in Springfield, scratched off the rest of the numbers to reveal that it was actually a $1 million winning ticket.
“After I saw $1 million, I was dancing at the store,” Shah told Inside Edition.
He says he started dreaming about how he would spend the lottery winnings, including buying a Tesla. But after a call with his grandparents in India, he knew what he needed to do.
“My grandma said, ‘No, we don’t have to keep that ticket. You know who the ticket is for. We should give it back to them,’” Shah said.
Shah says he recognized Fiega as a regular customer. He drove to her office and convinced her to return to the store, where she was handed back the winning ticket.
“She started crying like a baby. She freaked out. She can't even imagine we did that to her. She was like, ‘I’ve never seen honest people like you in my life,’” Shah said.
The convenience store will receive a $10,000 bonus for selling the ticket.
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