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A Michigan woman struck gold in her spam folder. 

Laura Spears, 55, found out she won the lottery earlier this month while digging for a missing email in her junk folder. Spears says she purchased the winning ticket seeing an ad on Facebook for the Mega Millions jackpot. Just a few days later, she stumbled on the victorious message. 

"I couldn't believe what I was reading," Spears told 

. "It's all still so shocking to me that I really won $3 million!"

Spears says she confirmed her winnings by checking her online lottery account. She won $1 million dollars, which then tripled with the Megaplier, which can multiply non-jackpot prizes. 

Spears plans to share her winnings with family, and retire earlier than she had planned, according to a release from the Michigan Lottery. 

The Oakland County resident said she added the organization to her safe senders list, just in case she gets lucky again.

A family in Arizona won the last Mega Millions jackpot at $108 million in October 2021. The current jackpot is valued at $396 million. 

The next drawing is scheduled for Tuesday. In the meantime, it might be a good idea to check your spam folder. 

Rina Torchinsky

Author

Laura Spears, 55, says she stumbled on her life-changing win a few days after buying a ticket for the Mega Millions jackpot. "I couldn't believe what I was reading," she says. 

Don't ignore your spam folder. It's how this woman learned she won a $3 million lotto

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