WHEN backpackers Caroline Day and Mei-Yin Lee discovered they had won Lotto they rang home from the newsagency. It was after one in the morning in Britain but Ms Day wanted to share the news with her mother.

During that joyous phone call, they calculated they had won about £220,000.

But three weeks later when Dr Lee rang NSW Lotteries to inquire about the money, a "bold" fraud by an employee at the newsagency came to light - and it would be another 27 months before the pair saw their money.