'Spam' Email Turns Out To Be True, Nets Michigan Woman Absolute Fortune

Laura Spears only realized shed scored a $3 million prize in the Michigan Lottery by chance.

An email informing Spears of her astonishing Mega Millions win in the Dec. 31 draw went into the spam folder of her account. She only found out about the windfall days later while searching for another missing message.

I couldnt believe what I was reading, so I logged in to my Lottery account to confirm the message in the email, Spears, who lives in Oakland County, said in a Michigan Lottery news release .

Its all still so shocking to me that I really won $3 million, added Spears, 55, who bought her winning ticket online.

She said she plans to retire and share the winnings with family. I definitely added the Michigan Lottery to my safe senders list just in case I ever get lucky enough to receive another email about a huge prize.

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Laura Spears got the surprise of a lifetime when she checked her spam folder and realized she'd won a $3 million Mega Millions prize! https://t.co/ZmCSxPDQR8 pic.twitter.com/HjFeLrL8kR

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Laura Spears got the surprise of a lifetime when she checked her spam folder and realized she'd won a $3 million Mega Millions prize! https://t.co/ZmCSxPDQR8 pic.twitter.com/HjFeLrL8kR
Michigan Lottery (@MILottery) January 21, 2022

Spears story is the latest lottery happy ending to go viral.

Last year, a Massachusetts woman still collected her $1 million winnings even after tossing out the ticket. And a Tennessee man found his missing $1 million-winning entry in the blustery parking lot where he dropped it .