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“I Was Contacted By A Publishers Clearing House Scammer!” Here’s What To Do!

PCH Fans,

Picture this… it’s an ordinary day and as you go about your daily activities you are suddenly interrupted by a phone call, letter, email, Facebook message or some other type of notification advising that you are a big Publishers Clearing House winner.

You get so excited you almost drop everything you are holding to jump in the air and begin yelling with excitement. That is of course until you remember that there are two very important things missing — the PCH Prize Patrol AND the Big Check! Yes friends, the alarms should be sounding right about now. THIS IS A SCAM!

Here at PCH we do our best to alert consumers about the latest scams. Since we love making dreams come true with our exciting sweepstakes, we hate nothing more than to learn of  fraudulent scammers contacting our loyal fans in their attempts to illegally obtain money and personal information.

So, what should you or your friends and family do if you suspect that you are being scammed? Well, the first thing is to never give out personal information or send money to the scammers! The second thing is make sure you report the scam right away using our super helpful scam form!

Remember – stay educated and know the signs of a PCH scam!  At Publishers Clearing House we NEVER contact our winners in advance. It’s ALWAYS a surprise.  To identify a scam, you should look for the following signs:

  • You were messaged on social media
  • You received a phone call telling you that you are a major prize winner at PCH.
  • You were asked to send a money card, cash, or provide the scammers with bank/personal information to claim your prize.

These are just some of the signs to watch out for. Unfortunately, it can happen to anyone. As a matter of fact, my own father AND one of my best friends were both contacted by PCH scammers!

I hope you found this information super-helpful. Please stay alert and make sure you always report any Publishers Clearing House scam you received. The more we know about these scammers, the better we can protect our loyal fans just like you!

Stay Alert!

Victoria P.
PCH Creative

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Comments

  1. I was contacted by phone from a Mark Sanders saying that there was prize money for me from the distant past. He said he worked for PCH and the state of New York in arranging process needed to get the money. His phone number is 718-371-$$$$. The emails he sent me were on a letter head with PCH name.

  2. I was contacted by a telephone call actually trying to have a virtual conversation with me!
    Remembering that PCH doesn’t contact winners by telephone, I hung the phone up immediately. Whomever was on the other end of the phone called back again and I had to hang the phone up again. This is getting ridiculous!

  3. Hello John, Thank you very much for reporting the scammers that have contacted you. Stopping them is a team effort and we are happy that you are doing your part. While it may be tempting, we don’t encourage you to interact with them any more than is minimally necessary. Simply tell them that you know they’re not the real PCH and hang up or disconnect your mode of contact with them. To stop scammers from contacting you on Facebook, check out this PCH Blog article: http://bit.ly/StopFBScammers. As a reminder, you can report scammers to PCH at this link: http://bit.ly/Report-Scam-To-PCH. Be careful and stay safe everyone!!

  4. Hi PCH. I received a call from phone number (516)789-$$$$ telling me I had won the 15 million drawing and to call them back on phone number (516) 405-$$$$ if I miss the call. I did miss the call so this is what was left on my answering machine. I know better than to call. You drive up and surprise people.
    Hope this helps you. I love PCH. Always some fun there with games and neat things to buy.

  5. I was contacted by Michael Williams Special Agent PCH.com that I had won some money and a automobile.
    He sent his card and photo.
    The number is $$$ $$$ $$$$.
    Is this a scam?

    1. Hi Michael! I’m sorry to tell you that was a scammer, not the real PCH. It’s important to remember that PCH does not contact winners of a major prize via phone, text, email, mail, or on Social Media. Also, if anyone asks you for money for any reason to claim a prize, you can be sure they’re a scammer. Please don’t give them any money, or any personal information! Scammers are very sneaky and will use our good name and reputation and sometimes fake images to try to deceive people. Stopping them is a team effort so please report any and all scam contacts you receive to PCH at this link: http://bit.ly/Report-Scam-To-PCH. We provide numerous videos, blogs, and tips to recognize these scammers here: https://info.pch.com/fraud-protection. Stay safe!

    1. Hi Tom! That’s not the real PCH calling you, it’s a scammer that’s only pretending to be from PCH. Please do not call that number, do not give the scammer any personal info including bank account information, and definitely do not send them any money if they ask. Make sure to report that scam contact to us via the following link: http://bit.ly/Report-Scam-To-PCH. I encourage you to read these Safety Tips too: https://info.pch.com/fraud-protection. Stay safe!

  6. Good morning, I am Shirley from Texas. I received three calls from the impersonators, one was in the year of 2021, one for the date, the other call was in 2022. I was not at home but heard it on my phone recorder. During December 2023, I received a email stating that I was a winner. Now I must admit that I had been praying that I could win the Publishers Clearing House since I had been a customer since 1970. So I found myself making excuses to believe that the call was really from PCH so I foolishly sent them what they asked for. I called the postal inspectors and reported to them about what I had done. They kept tabs on me and made it hard for me to send money but, I had to know if my prayers were answered and now I know that I have really been scammed out of my savings and income I can not pay my bills for this month and my lights will be cut off so I will have no means of communications.

    1. Hello Shirley, Thank you very much for reporting the scammers that have contacted you. Stopping them is a team effort and we are happy that you are doing your part. While it may be tempting, we don’t encourage you to interact with them any more than is minimally necessary. Simply tell them that you know they’re not the real PCH and hang up or disconnect your mode of contact with them. Please report all scam contacts to PCH via this link: http://bit.ly/Report-Scam-To-PCH. Thank you!!