Another bizarre story has surfaced in the Ontario lottery scandal, as a 70-year-old man who believes he was cheated out of a $12.5 million jackpot says he was told not to contact police or a lawyer.

The Ontario Conservatives say the Ottawa-area resident phoned the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation last month to say he was defrauded, but was given the strange instruction not to pursue his claim further.

Ottawa MPP Norm Sterling says the man, who wants to remain anonymous, phoned him about the complaint.

"All of the numbers are basically his numbers, and they all relate to family birthdays, family ages and those kinds of things which he constantly plays on his lottery tickets," Sterling said of the alleged winning ticket.

In his scathing report nine days ago that said lottery retailers have bilked players out of millions of dollars, Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin said this particular case involves the most shocking example of fraud he uncovered.

The winner of the $12.5 million jackpot which the senior man claims is his went to a woman who said she was related to a retailer in Burlington.

The woman said she won the jackpot with a free Super 7 play, but her story was fake. She wasn't related to the storeowner and an investigation by the lottery agency showed she couldn't say how she got the ticket.

The probe also showed the specific retailer "systematically collects free play tickets from unsuspecting customers."

Incredibly, OLG still paid the woman the $12.5 million. She has since disappeared.

Opposition Leader John Tory is demanding that the government track down the fraudster and get the money back.

Premier Dalton McGuinty says he is confident the Ontario Provincial Police will investigate thoroughly and take the appropriate action.

Third person claming to have won

CTV News has learned that the senior is the third person to claim the same $12.5 million jackpot. In addition to the woman who was given the cash, another man said the prize was his.

That man was investigated and later admitted lying about having a winning ticket, CTV's Paul Bliss reported.

Bliss has also learned that a preliminary investigation shows that the location the 70-year-old thinks he bought the ticket from doesn't match with the location that the ticket was issued.

Meanwhile, the lottery corporation says it treats all complaints with courtesy.

A spokesperson says it has investigated 500 of 700 recent complaints about alleged fraud.

With a report from CTV's Paul Bliss