How much do you love sharing everything with your Facebook friends? You know, the pictures, the inspirational quotes, and definitely what you ate for dinner. A cautionary tale from a successful punter has hit the press, and those that like to divulge oh-so-much to their Facebook ‘friends’ may give a second thought to their social media posting going forward.
According to a report by The Telegraph, a young racegoer known only by the first name of 'Chantelle' made her first time betting the ponies quite a memorable occasion. Chantelle got dressed up with a pomp chapeau, headed down to Ascot Racecourse in Australia and proceeded to nail Prince Of Penzance – the triple-digit longshot winner of the Melbourne Cup – with a successful $20 wager.
Selfie time!
Everything considered, it was a perfect time for a selfie – looking good, feeling good, about to cash! The selfie was great and everything was looking up, that was until Chantelle went to collect her winnings and was informed that someone had already claimed her spoils.
"When Prince of Penzance's name came up we were stoked, we were so happy!” Chantelle was quoted as saying. "Fifteen minutes later [after posting the selfie to Facebook] I went to collect the money and was told it had already been claimed.”
The article states that Chanetelle’s selfie – which appears on the right-hand side of this story – contained the bar code from her winning betting slip. She has said that her present security settings on her Facebook profile only allow her friends to view her posted content. In a nutshell, one of Chantelle’s Facebook friends somehow obtained the betting slip’s barcode from her photo and collected her winnings.
Chantelle has said that she “will have to have a Facebook cull” in light of the incident.
Chantelle has discussed the incident with a radio station, and the interview can be heard below.
(With files from The Telegraph)