A man who made headlines when he scooped a massive EUR 9.9 million lotto jackpot has opened up about how a woman scammed him into paying her bills for months with an elaborate sob story.
Ex-jailbird and drug user Kursat Yildirim, 43, known as Chico, from the city of Dortmund, in Germany’s state of North Rhine-Westphalia, said he keeps his eyes wide open ever since he fell victim to the scammer.
In an interview with German newspaper Bild, the former crane operator expressed his feelings, saying: “I was truly deceived, I discovered that later. Now, I’m cautious.”
Chico explained how he was approached by an unknown woman who falsely claimed to be in dire need of food.
He said: “The woman approached me, claiming she had lost her entire family in a car accident.
“Her parents, child, and brother were all gone. Her request seemed simple – to fill up a shopping cart. I told her she could fill two or three to the top.”
Moved by her story, he provided for her continuously for three months and said it was “So she can eat!”
However, he was shocked when he later discovered that she had lied to him. Chico added: “She had a family and children. It was incredibly outrageous.”
Chico said that ever since the grand win, random individuals have been asking him to buy food for them, place bets, or fill out their lottery tickets.
He said: “I was also asked to fill out their lottery tickets. But I don’t do that. Where does it start, and where does it end? Either I fill out the lottery tickets for everyone or no one.”
When asked if he still plays the lottery, Chico said that he recently spent EUR 3,700 (GBP 3,168) on lottery tickets within a single month, adding: “I have a feeling that something is coming.”
On how he makes his girlfriend Candice Newsgas, 36, happy, he said: “I just try to be there for her. I won’t lie, there are arguments, but we’re grown-ups.”
The happy couple is planning to tour Chico’s Turkish homeland this summer after the EURO 2024 football final in July.
