Claiming that coveted ‘Idiot of the Week’ prize takes some doing, especially when you consider the political situation here at home and over in the U.S, but I think this lady in France has nipped in at the final hurdle and pipped her competition.

The 46-year-old believed she had landed a whopper playing the EuroMillions lottery, deciding to get spending before claiming her prize. Here’s where The Local takes over:

Over the course of three weeks in February and March 2014, the woman issued a series of cheques to fund shopping sprees in the area, including perfumes, clothes and ornaments as she celebrated her win. Her spending quickly hit €4,000 before her family became a little bit concerned.

As the purchases piled up, she didn’t receive any contact from the Euro Millions and her family began to worry. Eventually, the woman’s husband dropped the bombshell by pointing out that she hadn’t had the right numbers…

Once she realized [sic] the winnings weren’t on the way, the woman rather than owning up to the gaffe dug a deeper hole for herself by inventing a story that her handbag had been stolen in order to avoid having to pay back the cash.

She went as far as burning the bag so that it wouldn’t be discovered, but failed to take into account the evidence of her spending, including CCTV footage.

Having initially denied fraud, the woman tearfully admitted the charges this week.

She has now been handed a four month suspended sentence and is legally obliged to pay back the businesses where her cheques had bounced.

Moral of the story? You’ll wanna check your winning lotto numbers BEFORE you start throwing some dosh around. You should also get on board with tonight’s EuroJackpot, just the R855 million to be won.

Cheques won’t be bouncing when that’s sitting in your bank account.

[source:thelocal]