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Amy Sancetta / AP
Mirlande Wilson may or may not have a Mega Millions lottery ticket entitling her to a piece of a $656 million dollar-pie, but there's no question she has the country pie-eyed, waiting to find out what's behind her ever-evolving story.
The 37-year-old mother of seven claims the winning ticket was purchased at a 7-Eleven store in Baltimore, after which she hid it at the McDonald's where she works. Now, Wilson says the ticket has been "misplaced"; meanwhile, an anonymous person in Kansas has just claimed a share of the prize.
While many have raised doubts about the veracity of Wilson's tale, one burning question stands out: Why would anyone lie about something so huge?
There's a tremendous amount of uncertainty regarding this particular story, says Monroe Friedman, emeritus professor of psychology at Eastern Michigan University currently living in Santa Monica, and we don't know that she's lying -- but, in general, people get caught up in escalating lies for a variety of reasons, he explains.
"It could be situational," he says. "You've had a down day or a down year. You've lost your job or your mate. For various reasons, you feel the need for attention."
But you don't need a bad day or a bad year to get caught up in a whopper, he says.
"Others just have a neediness," he says. "They feel unfulfilled, but it's been going on for a long time. It's more enduring. It's not a spur of the moment thing."
As an example, Friedman points to the many people who contact police departments to take credit for crimes they haven't committed.
"People often seek attention, and publicity and society has machinery to give them attention," he says. "Every time a murder occurs, people call the police and say they're the murderers. And they do this for a variety of reasons -- because they feel guilty or ashamed or needy or they're seeking attention."
One recent case of attention-seeking involves Tania Head, who claimed she escaped the South Tower on 9/11 (and lost her fiance in the North Tower), but whose story turned out to be a complete fabrication.
A new book and documentary entitled "The Woman Who Wasn't There: The True Story of an Incredible Deception" looks at Head's escalating lie and the reasons behind it.
“I think it’s about acceptance," co-author Robin Gaby Fisher told Matt Lauer on TODAY Thursday. "Why else would she do it? When she was growing up she had a real craving, a real need for attention. And that just got bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. She wanted celebrity.”
Friedman, an expert on cons, scams and swindles, points out that some situations are much more than just lies that have gotten out of control. Case in point: the story of the Balloon Boy.
"That was more of a hoax," says Friedman. "It goes beyond a lie. The balloon boy story required elaborate planning. Police will talk about short cons and long cons and the balloon boy would be a long con."
Could Mirlande Wilson's mysteriously missing lottery ticket be part of a con?
"If it is a con, it could be an opportunity for attention to be showered on her by the news media and may be an opportunity for her to receive attention, which might translate into financial benefit," he says. "But it's impossible to say. All we can do is point to possibilities and I don't like to point to the most unkind possibility."
Related:
Mega Millions winner in Kansas claims share of prize -- but will remain anonymous
Leave a Comment:
She's got 7 kids MSNBC. Of course she can't get any money by this fabricated story, but perhaps she doesn't know that. It's for the money. Plain and simple.
7 kids? How many daddys? Another compelling reason for forced sterilization. No way she won or she would be wearing gold teeth . By the way i am not racist, I said the same thing about that baby factory on 19 kids & counting.
I said it before, I'll say it again. This woman needs to receive the ass whoopin' belt her father never gave her. Do it in public. Make it a TV event for everyone to get some benefit from the wasted time and money spent on this evil narcissist's lies. Maybe some good will come out of it in the form of others seeing it and maybe growing a muscle in their brain that's supposed to go off and say, "You know what... maybe I shouldn't make up some ridiculous lie just to fill a hole or the odd chance I can monetize it."
We are never going to fix this country until people start suffering consequences for their actions. That's why no one is learning anything anymore. The progressive movement is all about 'protecting' people, but it has the opposite effect long term. Turns the masses into people like her.
And just to follow up. The media should have a simple rule when it comes to lottery declarations:
No ticket, no attention. PERIOD.
You want us (media) to pay you a visit? You fax or email us a copy of the ticket, then you must show it to us in person, then we turn the cameras on.
And yet the media continue to give this woman the attention that she so craves. Who is the smarter one here...the woman, for being able to keep her name in the headlines, or the media, for being stupid enough to oblige her?
abc; I agree with your post. The rules say no ticket, no money, why is she even in the papers?
Hey, hey, I won, too. I'm in Ohio, but who cares! I won, and I can get all sorts of publicity. Yeah, that's right I won, come on, turn on the cameras. I'm ready for my closeup.
(Actually, I did win $2, so I'm not a liar.)
Some folks will do anything for attention. It's sad that the media bites on all sorts of bait.
I don't believe she has it. I think IF she DOES have the winning tix, it was 1 of the tix from the 15 co-worker 'pool'. I don't think she gave them copies of all of the tix. AND WHY has the lottery commission snatched up the video from the store selling the tix. Are they thinking about a pending lawsuit? Does she want to be 'left alone' so she can QUIETLY collect the winnings by herself? I seriously doubt that'll happen. There has got to be some laywers waiting to pounch when she tries to collect. Surely there will be a lawsuit anyway you look at it. For pete's sake, they all work at McD's so they can't be rich. She should share the $ now with them, before she has to divide the money 15 ways AND then pay their 15 lawyers! Sad thing, the press keeps giving her face time.
Here's what I think happened. After ms Wilson received the additional money to buy more lottery tickets for the pool she went home. Realizing that she had not purchased the additional tickets she asked a companion or friend to run out and get them for her. Never thinking in her wildest dreams that she would be a winner. This is where the plot thickens. She calls a co-worker to announce her luck. Realizing she needs to explain what happened to the 5 dollar ticket for the pool she fabricated the lost ticket story. She has always known the tickets location. she contacted a lawyer to help her figure out how to keep all the money. Even though her co-workers will be mad there's no proof that she swindled them. The lawyer will help get the money anonymously she will disappear from the radar and life goes on. My opinion as to what happened.
Networks pay vast sums for crazy absurd stories that grab headlines- she surely will make money somehow off this farce. One way or another. Her lawyer will see to that with dozens of sugestions. (and a piece of that pie)
so... Burger King won't be releasing a new "Mega Whopper"?
disappointment =/
That's what I thought when I read the headlines.
This is sooo such a crok. I buy a lottery ticket I put it in my wallet with the most important items in my life, my license, s/s card, credit card, and voter registration card and a pic of my family! I don't buy it at JC Penney and hide it in Sears. I think she is the winner, blabbed who she was and is now trying to hide that fact. If so, I truly congratulate her and , as I wrote in another comment, don't blame her for hiding from the zombies that will be coming after her brains!
What brains?
I guess you missed the story about a month or so back about the british teen who was cleaning his room out and almost threw a winning lottery ticket in the trash but decided to check it first and was pleasantly suprised to find it was a winner. Maybe you stick your lottery ticket in your wallet Don but not everybody is you. People do misplace important items from time to time.
Here's another one from North Carolina where a guy went into a Walmart, bought some stuff and tried to pay for it all with an altered one dollar bill. He insisted it was a million dollar bill in spite of the fact that the US doesn't issue million dollar bills, not to mention the difficulty the checkout clerk would have making change for it. Another one for Letterman's stupid crook files.
Don, you probably shouldn't leave your ss card in your wallet with your license. If you lose it, it will be easy for identity theft.
I am quite sure if she had won the lottery that she would have ran not walk to the lottery office and would not have cared who knew she had won with seven childrens. Especially with the way that todays economy state is. If she lost it she would have all seven of those children looking for it.Come on now working at Mcdonalds too low wage income. GET REAL.
It will be misplaced long enough for the media to lose interest. She will then slither in when nobody is looking and claim her(?) prize.
she's A) either lying outright (which makes her look stupid) B) actually lost the ticket (which makes her look more stupid) or C) she has it and will quietly quit the burger biz in a few months, move elsewhere far away and claim it so no co-workers can file suit (which makes her look like a sneak thief)... no matter what it ALL looks stupid.
Stupid is as stupid does ;-)
I think she has it and is waiting for the attention to die down or a diversion. Then she won't have to share with her co workers. You can't judge a book by its color, hair, jumpsuit, hat...etc...
BRAD-379979, I agree with your last Assessment. She and her co-workers are probably the winners and now realizes that she will have to share the winnings with her co-workers. I can't see her not claiming the prize if she was legitmately the sole winner. I believe she will lay low and move somewhere else and claim the prize later. I hope I am wrong. That is a lot of money that could be shared with her co-workers if that is the case.
You all haven't been paying attention. She sought the media in the first place by claiming she had a winning ticket. In Maryland you can claim anonymously so your theories don't hold water at all. And did you miss the part that the third winning ticket had been presented by someone from Kansas? This woman has been lying from the start.
Such a great role model for 7 children. Ugh.
Well there was a great deal of kindness in the posts so far. I can't say that I care which kind of stupid she may have. . . . Stupid is probably not her only issue, nor is it a good excuse or defense. And I think that's the crux of this particular pitiful episode.
The people that run this lottery know exactly how many winning tickets were sold and where. How would she know that info if she didn't have the ticket at some point, unless there is come element of this story I missed.
Because the day after the drawing they had reporters at the store where it was purchased commenting that it was bought there and at what time, not had to know when and where it was bought, the media did within 6 hrs
No one would ever lie to get attention. Ask Justin Bieber.
While I can see lying to get attention, I don't quite understand deliberately seeking out negative attention. Like the examples in the story of people calling the police to confess to murders they didn't commit. If they believe you, you get arrested and thrown in jail (also, a real murderer goes free). If they don't, you don't get your attention. Where's the upside?
That's the part I don't get. Lying to get positive attention, I can kinda understand. Lying to get negative attention... not so much.
I agree. But with some people, I guess any attention is good attention.
a better question is why do any of us care? all that really matters is...none of US won;-)
Just another loonie. How long can the Fourth Estate continue to make hay of inane stories about fools? Nothing to see here. Move along.
seven kids. makes up some crazy story that involves multiple people as they believe her. She wastes their time, and people are sent trying to figure this issue out while crazy lazy girl contemplates her next baby. She's a scammer. She will either try to capitalize on this thru a good samariton feeling sorry for her, or she will stick to the I lost it story and claim racism until they give her money. Personally i think she needs to face charges. 1. for being a piece of crap. But all the people and time she wasted on her game. I can say this. With a mom like that, those SEVEN kids are gonn really be winners.
OK so she got her 15 min. of attention so now lets forget her.....
Well technically, since she works at McDonalds, it wouldn't be a whopper... it would be a Big Mac.. :)
A family of 4 is already worth $1,333,000! 100 trillion divided by 300 million comes to $333,000 per capita times 4 equals $1,333,000. So why are people playing the lottery? Greed?
Oh wait I forgot, somebody suckered and screwed you out of your fair share so NOW you have to live from paycheck to paycheck instead, little more than an indentured servant and just DREAM of having a million bucks while the upper class craps YOUR fillet minon in the toilet every morning. But hey the privileged bastards EARNED it ---- via Daddy for the MOST part who bankrolled them
Or maybe the extreme left should get their way and have taxes on the top to be 95%. So, the lottery winners should only get about 10 million each. After all, they didn't work hard and really "earn" that money.
Meanwhile over in Qatar the benevolent fat cat Monarchs are DETERMINED to redistribute their wealth to the People by taking care of them from cradle to grave-- free education, transportation, health care and energy along with full employment and an average wage of 150k a year
Contrast that with our greed is good Ass holes who want to gut your Medicare
When you have 1.5 million people in your country, and an unending flow of money from oil, you can do amazing things. Norway is in a similar situation with its population of 5 million or so and steady stream of oil coming from the North Sea.
Neither Qatar nor Norway have ever had to create anything. Someone else came in, found the oil, and pay them billions of dollars to extract it.
There have been several other small countries in similar situations, but few have had the foresight to create a national fund from the proceeds and invest it (mostly in the U.S., by the way).
Given a choice, I would prefer to live in Norway rather than under Sunni law in Qatar.
But to your original point, yes, Qatar is in a position to do good things for their population, but their situation is nothing like that in the U.S. We have over 300 million people, 15 trillion in debt, and no National Monetary fund of any kind. We give hundreds of billions to our citizens, but it comes from taxes and borrowed money, not a trust fund.
THE RIGHT loves to lie & tell people America is the greatest at everything on Earth
then when you toss the Qatar situation into the mix and they disappear like roaches when the lights go on .
WE could do the exact same thing in the USA IF it weren't for the entitlement & twisted christianity beliefs that so many seem to think are virtuous & righteous .
Free Education
Health care
Banking
Police & fire services
and a sane society that isn't dependent on war,
then we will have risen to the level of the Scandinavian countries .
@!$%# this lady, and @!$%# the Trayvon Martin story. Lets get back to life people.
...no way!!! I love the Nigerian & Zimmerman stories!!! But to tell you the truth, I like this one better now!!!
I have to wonder if this is the setup: When the real winner steps up and claims the prize, she morphs the story into one where the winner stole her ticket. She just has to play the race card long enough for them to settle quietly.
Supposedly the store at which the winning ticket was bought has security camera videos of people buying tickets. The problem is that the timing is off. If the scenario you describe occurs, it would seem logical that someone finds a way to properly coordinate the timing and check to see if she is even on the videos. Anyone who isn't bright enough to figure out why she keeps getting pregnant isn't going to be able to take into account all the angles that the lottery people have to validate her story.
she has that angle covered,she said she had a "friend" buy the ticket for her, so she won`t show up on the store camera even if they check it.
OK. So common sense is telling me that she did not win on her own then.
I can't stand liars...they keep on talking and talking, trying to pit their miniscule brains against ours in order to make you and I look like fools. The minute the excuses start flowing, I read their game and stop listening.
Let's say for the sake of argument that she does have the winning ticket and finds it again... a few years down the line. Does she think that over time, her co-workers will simply "forget" about checking up as to whether or not she's turned it in for the money, so she can keep it all?
Not to mention that this begs the question... how much damned money does one person need, anyway? I would never be able to live with myself if I tried to scam co-workers out of their jackpot winnings; regardless of whether "their" direct money went into it or not, she was the one who picked up the ticket on behalf of the group. There is no need to be that damned greedy!
Winners have until September to claim the prize. She can't wait for years, and given the amount of money involved, I doubt her coworkers are going to forget or stop keeping an eye on her.
I think she's got the winning ticket. Just trying to find someone she can trust enough to pose as the "winner", so she doesn't have to share it with her fellow workers. Should have laid low...not real bright.
She doesn't have it. I'm pretty confident in that.
...cant wait to see the outcome of this story, if Nigerian email lady is just really playin' off the time & location of the winning ticket. If a real winner doesn't come forward, she can just claim she lost or misplaced the ticket. But if she bought it on her own (not the $5 last minute store mgr batch), and they (lotto officials), said it was a single quik pick ticket, then, just then, it might be her. A thought to ponder is.....would the other 15 ppl share their SIDE TICKET, if 'they' won???
And her skin color is? Black. Interesting.
I did not realize lying was owned by a particular race. Dya hear that Kenneth Lay? Jack Abramoff? You brothers were innocent! You were (w)ight all along! So black people lie about winning millions while white people just steal millions from middle class workers. Alrighty dontfearthetruth, in truth, which is worse?
I keep telling you folks. The woman is not the story here. It's the media in a feeding frenzy and they got a taste and now they want MORE!!! They are p.o.'ed because the person in Kansas wanted to remain anonymous(imagine that!!!) and the ticket holder from Illinois has remained silent. The umnamed winners are the two smart people in this whole scenario.
Get it? The media are almost as bad as politicians. They would lie,cheat and steal to get a story.
AMEN
I need a twenty peice nugget,large fry and large sweet tea ..Fire in the hole !!!