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Man Flooded With Messages From People Who Thought He Won The Powerball
A man who was mistaken for a Powerball winner didn't get to experience the riches, but he did get to learn what it's like when people think you became a billionaire overnight.
Jared Price, 27, is a mortgage manager who lives in Coto de Caza in Orange County, according to CBS Los Angeles. He did not win the Powerball. However, shortly after Powerball officials announced that a winning ticket had been sold in Chino Hills, an article from UnitedMediaPublishing.com claimed that a Chino Hills hedge fund manager named Jared Price was the lucky one. As that post spread around the Internet, Price began to get a lot of weird messages.
He told CBS that he heard from friends he hadn't spoken to in years and that his inbox on LinkedIn was flooded with messages suggesting he buy a home in Chino Hills. And that's not all: he said the messages even extended to his parents and wife, and that people started creating bogus social media accounts pretending to him.
United Media, however, is a phony news site that publishes joke stories. In their Powerball story, the fictitious Price was already extremely wealthy and bought up 15,000 Powerball tickets. This Price didn't know what to do with his winnings, but speculated he might "buy up the next Wu Tang album, or buy another yacht." The Powerball fakeout even made it on to hoax-busting site Snopes.
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In other cringe-worthy news, a son tricked his own mother, a nurse in Pomona, into thinking that she'd won the Powerball.
The real Chino Hills winner has yet to be identified, but the winning numbers are 4, 8, 19, 27, 34, and the Powerball number is 10. Maybe if you're the winner, it's best to stay low-key and save yourself from all the LinkedIn messages.
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But the game has changed: Congress voted to eliminate funding for public media across the country. Here at LAist that means a loss of $1.7 million in our budget every year. We want to assure you that despite growing threats to free press and free speech, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust. Speaking frankly, the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news in our community.
We’re asking you to stand up for independent reporting that will not be silenced. With more individuals like you supporting this public service, we can continue to provide essential coverage for Southern Californians that you can’t find anywhere else. Become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission.
Thank you for your generous support and belief in the value of independent news.
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