A woman has told how she almost missed out on a £2.2million lottery prize when the all-important email went into her spam inbox.
Lucky Laura Spears bagged a ticket for the Mega Millions December 31 draw after seeing an advert on Facebook that showed it was "getting pretty high".
But weeks later she had forgotten all about it, and it was only when she was trying to track down an unrelated email that she fortuitously spotted one from the Michigan Lottery in her spam folder.
Spam folders automatically filter out emails you might not want to receive and often they are permanently deleted after 30 days.
But this time around, thankfully, Laura spotted an email from the lottery telling her she had won $3million (£2.2million).
Laura, of Michigan, told WXYZ Detroit : "It’s all still so shocking to me that I really won $3 million!"
She said she planned on retiring early and sharing the cash with her family.
Laura had won $1million by matching all five white balls but, in another stroke of luck, had opted to pay an extra couple of dollars when buying her ticket to use the 'Megaplier' feature.
This allows players to multiple any potentialynon-jackpot prizes up to as many as five times, for $1 a go.
In the US, there were $2.89 billion worth of unclaimed lottery prizes from June 2016 to June 2017, lottery expert Brett Jacobson told CNN.
While in the UK, National Lottery players were this month being urged to check their tickets as more than £3million in unclaimed prizes was about to expire.
Six jackpot winners have yet to come forward for games including EuroMillions, Lotto and Set For Life - and time is running out for them to scoop life-changing cash.
National Lottery winners have 180 days, about six months, from the day of the draw to claim the money if they have a winning ticket.
If they don’t contact Camelot within this time frame, then they lose out on the cash.
One prize worth £75,443.40 from a EuroMillions draw needs to be claimed next month.
This incredible cash sum was won by someone in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley with the game having taken place on August 20, 2021.
They have until February 16, 2022 to collect their prize.
The person matched five numbers plus one Lucky Star, with the winning numbers being: 3, 9, 19, 20, 23 and Lucky Stars 9 and 11.
A further three EuroMillions wins, two that are worth £1million each and a third that is for £138,366.60, are also waiting to be claimed.
The first £1million prize was won by a player in Liverpool on September 7, 2021, who had the winning UK Millionaire Maker code MWSJ01166.
They have until March 6, 2022 to contact Camelot.
The second £1million prize that remains unclaimed was won by someone in Portsmouth from a draw that took place on November 12, 2021.
They also had a winning Millionaire Maker code (XVGW54390) and must claim their prize by May 11, 2022.
And the £138,000 EuroMillions prize was won by someone in the Borough of Wyre on December 3, 2021. They have until June 1, 2022 to claim.
This ticket holder matched five numbers plus one Lucky Star, with the winning numbers being: 1, 22, 29, 32, 46 and Lucky Stars 9, 10.
There is also a Lotto winning prize worth £1million that must be claimed by June 6, 2022 from a draw that took place on December 8, 2021.
The winning numbers were 2, 30, 31, 34, 52, 58 and the Bonus ball was 5, with the ticket holder living in South Gloucestershire having matched five number plus the Bonus.
Finally, there is one Set For Life prize up for grabs still.
This prize is for £10,000 each month for one year (worth £120,000) from a draw that happened on December 9, 2021.
This winner lives in Northamptonshire and has until June 7, 2022, to claim.
Unclaimed National Lottery prizes - full list
- EuroMillions draw 20/08/2021 - £75,443.40 prize needs to be claimed by 16/02/2022
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EuroMillions draw 07/09/2021 - £1million prize needs to be claimed by 06/03/2022
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EuroMillions draw 12/11/2021 - £1million prize needs to be claimed by 11/05/2022
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EuroMillions draw 03/12/2021 - £138,366.60 prize needs to be claimed by 01/06/2022
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Lotto draw 08/12/2021 - £1million prize needs to be claimed by 06/06/2022
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Set For Life draw 09/12/2021 - £10,000 every month for 1 year prize needs to be claimed by 07/06/2022
