VINCENNES, IN (WFIE) -
You may have seen a post on Facebook, about two men, the owner and an employee at Campbell's Distributing, in Vincennes, who claim they won a million dollars. Well, they didn't.
"Everybody wants a piece of a million dollars," said Frankie Frye.
For just a little while, Frankie Frye and Louie Campbell had their friends, family, and yes, even the media, fooled into thinking they were a whole lot richer.
"It took off like wildfire I didn't imagine it would get this big," said Campbell.
What they now admit was a lotto hoax started last night.
The two friends bought a Powerball ticket on their way back from Olney, Illinois. It's what they did next that created a bit of a monster.
"Immediately after the drawing I posted a comment on Facebook that I have some freaking amazing news that's all for now," said Louie Campbell.
Then came the Facebook picture. The apparent "proof".
Louie and Frankie, all smiles, holding a ticket with five matching numbers.
"Well I didn't think it would look that good Photoshopped but we were wrong," said Frye.
"The only number that I actually hit was 5," said Campbell.
From there the guys let the internet work its magic.
"I just wanted to tease people a little bit and then also kind of a social experiment I mean what kind of responses am I going to get," said Campbell.
Turns out, they ranged from well wishes, to potentially opportunistic advances.
"Suddenly out of no where getting compliments from strange women I don't know on Facebook it was funny, it was funny," said Campbell.
Louie says his plan all along was to come clean about the prank today.
After all, he and Frankie never expected an actual winner in Vincennes. Which ended up making the whole thing a lot more believable.
But what no one noticed their Photoshopped ticket wasn't even from Indiana.
"It was purchased in Illinois, printed on Illinois Lottery paper, could not have been purchased in Vincennes," said Campbell.
To make this story even more convincing, the guys do shop at United PSM, the gas station where the real winning ticket was sold.
"We recognized the guy, that's right," said Surinder Singh, owner, United PSM.
The next time they go in, they may get a little grief, but luckily, the workers don't seem to be taking it too seriously.
"I think I can take the joke," said Ray Harris, United PSM employee. "Some people it might upset some people but you know he didn't hurt anybody by it just kidding around."
"It's by far the best prank I think we've ever played, but there's many more to come," said Frankie Frye.
Copyright 2012 WFIE. All rights reserved.
Louie Campbell (left) and Frankie Frye (right) with their now infamous lotto ticket.
