Most friends on Facebook will be happy for you in times of celebrating personal winnings – but some could use it as an opportunity to rip you off.

That’s what Chantelle from Perth, Australia discovered when she posted a celebratory selfie on Facebook with her winning ticket from the races, only to discover that one of her social network ‘friends’ used the picture to steal her money.

Chantelle told radio station Triple M that she had never been to the races before and decided to put some modest bets on a few horses.

Chantelle's selfie with the winning ticket (Facebook/TripleM)

She placed a $20 (£9.29) bet on a horse called Prince of Penzance with odds of 101-1, and was “stoked” when she discovered she had won $900 (£417.90). She posted a selfie of herself with the winning ticket, barcode and all, which someone used at an automated ticket machine to collect her money.

“Fifteen minutes [after posting the photo] I went to collect the money and was told it had already been claimed,” she told the station.

"All of our profiles are private, so it has to be someone we would like to think of as an acquaintance, I will have to have a Facebook cull now."