France: Homeless Men Won €500,000 With Stolen Card – Owner Offers to Share

A portion of the €500,000 lottery jackpot is being offered to two homeless men who purchased a winning ticket using a stolen credit card in France. Two homeless men in Toulouse used a stolen credit card to buy a lottery ticket worth €500,000. Surprisingly, the card owner, Jean David, is not pursuing legal action against them but instead invites them to share the winnings! It all started when the two men broke into a car parked in central Toulouse and stole a wallet containing credit cards and documents belonging to Jean David. The 42-year-old reported the theft to the police and contacted his bank to block the cards. However, he learned that the thieves had made purchases totaling €52.50 at a nearby kiosk about half a kilometer from where he had parked his car. Concerned more about retrieving his identity documents, Jean decided to visit the kiosk the next morning to explain the situation and check for CCTV footage of the thieves. ‘I was hoping to at least recover my papers, but the kiosk owner said nothing was found. He remembered two homeless men aged 30-40 entering the store to buy cigarettes and lottery tickets. Their behavior seemed suspicious because they paid with a card and then tried to make another purchase, which didn’t go through due to PIN issues,’ Jean explained to authorities. The homeless men discovered they had won €500,000 and returned to the kiosk to claim their money. They were informed they needed to contact Française des Jeux, the company managing France’s national lottery. The thieves have not attempted to collect their winnings, and Toulouse police say Française des Jeux has frozen the winning ticket while investigations continue. Jean David publicly proposed a settlement, inviting the thieves to contact his lawyer. ‘Why not share it?’ he stated.