Man makes desperate attempt to show world he won the Powerball

 By 
Heather Dockray
 on 
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Soon after the Powerball numbers were released Wednesday night, the California lottery revealed that the winning ticket could be tracked back to a store in Chino Hills. While the Internet speculated wildly, inaccurately, about who that winner might be, one brave/weird man came forward with what appeared to be a winning ticket.

Erik Bragg, creator of the Instagram account TheGuysTheLimit, quickly posted a selfie of himself on Instagram with a Powerball ticket.

"I WON $1.5 BILLION!!!!! I’m posting this in case anyone tries to jack me this is proof! Look it up I bought in Chino Hills where I grew up!" Bragg wrote.

Look closely.

OMG I WON $1.5 BILLION!!!!! I'm posting this in case anyone tries to jack me this is proof! Look it up, I bought in chino hills where I grew up! #powerball A photo posted by Erik Bragg (@thisguysthelimit) on Jan 13, 2016 at 8:10pm PST

Sure, his ticket had the winning numbers. But soon, the Internet did what the Internet did best -- tore him apart, limb from limb.

Lines B from E, BroBible noted, were missing from the ticket, while line A holds the winning numbers. It was, it appears, a good ol' Photoshop heist. And while Bragg might not have won the lottery, his photo has since accrued more than 75,000 likes.

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