An IT worker at Lottomatica, Italy’s national lottery, allegedly developed software to identify which packets of scratch cards had a winner and which shops they had been sent to.

Police believe Fabio Giacovazzi, 56, sent friends and family to collect the winnings and took a cut before retiring with millions in the bank, The Times reports.

However, he allegedly taught four colleagues how to carry out the same scam and they inadvertently aroused the suspicions of their bankers.

A police official said: “They were euphoric when they pulled this off, but now everything they obtained has gone.”

Lottomatica has sacked the four employees, and all five are now facing a criminal prosecution.