Eight-year-old girl now Jamaica’s youngest millionaire after accidentally winning $1m

An eight-year-old girl in Jamaica has become the country’s youngest millionaire after being among the latest winners of a promotion by mobile operator Digicel. The mobile phone network announced this year a promotion dubbed, ‘Mek Wi Rich Togeddah’, which will give every Digicel prepaid or postpaid mobile customer a chance to win from a prize pool of over $42 million, Loop News reported.

Running till September 14, customers can also win the second prize of $5 million, or one of nine weekly prizes of $1 million. Grade three student Abri was shocked when she received a call from Digicel ‘Mek Wi Rich Togeddah’ live draw presenter ZJ Sparks, announcing that she was Jamaica’s newest millionaire.

Her mother Krystal said that Abri had dialed the *142# entry code in error while trying to renew her mobile data plan. Krystal and the rest of the family had no idea that Abri had entered the promotion until they received the phone call from the mobile operator.

“I was at home when Abri came to me saying that the number 619-5000 kept on calling her and that it was Digicel,” Krystal said. “When they called back and I spoke to the representative, I was genuinely confused because I did not remember entering the promotion. So I checked her call log, only to see that she had dialed 142. I realized that it must have happened one day when she impatiently decided to renew her data plan herself and called that number instead.”

“Once I and my husband realized it was real, it was an emotional rollercoaster for us both,” she added. “We were shocked, happy and still a bit confused that this could have happened to us.”

Abri couldn’t hide her joy after being told that she had become a millionaire. She and her parents recently went to Kingston to meet with Digicel representatives for the official handover of the $1 million, Loop News reported. Her parents said some of the $1 million will go into books, a new tablet and other materials she would need for school. The rest will go into an investment fund to cater to her future education.

“Surprise endings like this is exactly why we launched the Mek Wi Rich Togeddah promotion,” Chief Marketing Officer for Digicel Jamaica Nasha-Monique Douglas said. “Every week our customers get lots of chances to win extraordinary prizes and get their lives back on track. We see the big difference that our million-dollar call makes in people’s lives, and we’re very happy to be able to offer our customers hope.”

Apart from the weekly $1 million prizes, the grand prize of $10 million, or the second-place prize of $5 million, customers can also win smartphones, tablets, prepaid credit, postpaid bill discounts, and more in the live weekly draw that takes place on Digicel’s Instagram and Facebook pages, the telecoms operator said.