A Frenchman appealed to the homeless thieves who stole his credit card to buy a jackpot-winning scratch lottery ticket, offering to split the €500,000 jackpot with them.

They say every misfortune can be a blessing in disguise, and that certainly seems to hold true for a Toulouse man who had his credit card stolen earlier this month and now stands to pocket over $250,000 because of it. On February 3rd, Jean David discovered that the backpack containing his wallet had been stolen from his car, but before he could contact the bank to block all his credit cards, someone used one of them to make a €52.50 ($55) purchase at a local convenience store. Upon visiting the store, the man learned that the two men who had used his credit card appeared to be homeless and attracted the cashier’s attention because they didn’t seem to know the PIN code of one of the cards they attempted to use. Jean David was also shocked to learn that one of the scratch lottery tickets the two thieves had purchased was worth €500,000 ($525,000).

Jean-David’s lawyer, Pierre Debuisson, recently told the BBC that his client was willing to share the scratch ticket jackpot, seeing as the two thieves could not claim the prize without him. France’s national lottery operator, Française des Jeux (FDJ), had already blocked the prize after he reported his credit card stolen, and any attempt to claim it by someone other than the credit card owner would likely result in an arrest. But for half the winnings, Jean-David would be more than willing to let bygones be bygones.

“My client was very happy to have his credit card stolen in these circumstances and so is not looking to prosecute,” Debuisson said. “This is also a miraculous opportunity for these two men to build a new life for themselves.”

Jean-David personally urged the two thieves to come forward, telling RTL: “Without me, they would not have won, but without them, I would not have bought this ticket. I want to offer them to share the winnings.”

In France, scratch ticket winners have 30 days to claim their winnings, so the deadline for Jean-David and his unlikely partners is fast approaching. “For that amount of money, I’m ready to come to an agreement”, he reiterated, adding that he would use his half of the winnings to pay his mortgage.

Oddity Central