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5 Ways To Know If It’s A Publishers Clearing House Scam!

4_5_Spot A Publishers Clearing House Scam

 

Publishers Clearing House is the REAL deal― a legitimate sweepstakes company that has awarded more than $225 Million in Cash and Prizes so far! Unfortunately, sometimes criminals try to cash in on our good name and trick unsuspecting people like you with Publishers Clearing House Scams. While they may be convincing, here are 5 foolproof ways to know for sure if an offer is from the REAL PCH — or if it’s a Publishers Clearing House Scam.

1. If you’re required to wire or pay any amount of money in order to claim a prize, it’s a Publishers Clearing House Scam. PCH sweepstakes are ALWAYS FREE to enter, and there is never any fee associated with winning.

2. If you’re asked to load up a Green Dot MoneyPak  or other money transfer card, in exchange for claiming your prize, it’s a Publishers Clearing House Scam. Again, PCH will NEVER ask you to pay a cent to collect a prize.

3. If someone tries to contact you in advance regarding a prize delivery, it’s a Publishers Clearing House Scam! After all, that would ruin the surprise! For decades, our Prize Patrol has captured the elated reactions of surprised winners and used them in our nationally-televised commercials. You’ll know you’re a big PCH winner if you see the Prize Patrol at your front door holding a “Big Check” with your name on it!

4. If someone calls you on the telephone claiming to be from Publishers Clearing House and says you have won, it’s a Publishers Clearing House Scam. Do NOT give them any personal information!  As stated above, the Prize Patrol awards all our Big Prizes in person and would never call you to update any personal information in our files.

5. If someone claiming to be from Publishers Clearing House tries to send you a friend request on Facebook, it’s a Publishers Clearing House Scam. Even if they are using the name and photo of a prominent PCH employee  ―do NOT believe them. Our PCH employees and official PCH Prize Patrol Fan pages will never private message you on Facebook.

So fans, keep these 5 tips in mind, and you’ll be protected against Publishers Clearing House Scams. If you have more questions about whether something is legitimate or a scam, please visit our FAQ page. And if you’ve been contacted by a scammer, please fill out a Scam Incident Report.

And remember, you can’t WIN if you’re not IN! So, keep entering the PCH Sweepstakes daily.

All the best!

elaina

Elaina R.
PCH Online Creative

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Comments

  1. I had a message to call Frank Myers with PCH at $$$ $$$-$$$$. I called today and spoke with him and he said I won the $15,5 million dollar prize ($7,000 a week for life) and I said are you trying to scam me! He said no that it was all on the up & up. He even gave me a claim number and said that our phone call was being monitored by Homeland Security. Everything he said sounded really good until he said they would be here in about an hour and I would need to get 3 American Express gift cards to have ready. I would also be signing papers that are required by our government whenever there is a large prize amount like this one. I told him I couldn’t get any gift cards tonight and that I don’t have any money to buy them since I live only on my social security. I said I still thought it was a scam and asked if he could postpone everything till tomorrow after 5pm which would give me time to talk things over with an attorney. He was agreeable to that and we ended our conversation. I really don’t think he will call me back though!!

    1. Hello Ruth, The real PCH doesn’t notify our major prize winners via phone, standard mail, email, or social media, and we never ask for money to claim a prize. Report them to PCH by completing a Scam Incident Report. Here’s how: http://bit.ly/Report-Scam-To-PCH. Check out this FAQ for info on how to stop scammers from contacting you on Facebook: http://bit.ly/StopFBScammers. Please be careful everyone; don’t become a scammer’s victim!

  2. I received a phone call from PCH saying I won an unclaimed prize. Gave me a $$$$$ code to call you at $$$-$$$-$$$$.
    Is this a scam? Most appreciated a response.
    I have not called them.
    Thank you so much for your assistance.

    1. Hi Sheryl! That is 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!

  3. I was contacted by phone by a Mary Myers who said PCH was trying to notify me that I won! It started out as 3.5 million and a 2023 Mercedes’ Benz S class vehicle to be delivered the next day, but I had to pay a 1% registration of $299.54 on a vanilla visa gift card. Immediately red flags went up and then I was told it was wrong; the prize was 35.55 million paid to myself and a person of my choice at the rate of $5K per week for life but they needed $1000 more. Either that or I could go to Verizon and pay $300, get two iPhones on the family plan, and then they’d sponsor me for the $1K. Does this sound as suspicious to you as it does me?

    1. Hello Sara! That is 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. If you haven’t already done so, please 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://bit.ly/FraudProtection2. Please be careful everyone; don’t become a scammer’s victim!

  4. Can’t get to the Scam Incident Report.
    I have been called by 2 different people in the last week.
    1. John Prince $$$-$$$-$$$$ ext 101. He called me on my land line. I called back the next day and left a message for him to call on my cell phone. He called me back on a different phone number. $$$-$$$-$$$$. Telling me I won money and a car. To call back when I’m at home so my husband can be in on the news and how we should handle the money. Will not be calling him back. I did tell him I heard the PCH doesn’t call the winner ahead of time. He told me not to believe that, how would we be able to catch people at home if they didn’t know we were coming.
    2. Another person called John, # $$$-$$$-$$$$. Gave me a bank account # from a bank in New York. To call them and give them the account number and a pin number. Did not call the bank. This guy keeps calling back.

    1. Hi Charlene, we’re sorry to hear the scammers are bothering you. Please report all contacts from scammers to PCH via this link: http://bit.ly/Report-Scam-To-PCH. PCH does partner with the Federal Trade Commission and we send all scam reports to them so please make sure you let us know anytime a scammer contacts you. Remember, the real PCH never notifies major prize winners via phone, standard mail, email, or social media, and we never ask winners to pay to claim their prize. You can see more Safety Tips here: https://info.pch.com/fraud-protection. Stay safe!

  5. We have been called with numbers from both coasts. Very pushy, very polite. When we were asked to open a new bank account, game over. We received about twenty phone calls altogether. They were talking about a $10,0000 wire transfer fee.

    1. Hi Kevin, we’re very sorry to hear the scammers are bothering you. Please report all contacts from scammers to PCH via this link: http://bit.ly/Report-Scam-To-PCH. PCH does partner with the Federal Trade Commission and we send all scam reports to them so please make sure you let us know anytime a scammer contacts you. Remember, the real PCH never notifies major prize winners via phone, standard mail, email, or social media, and we never ask winners to pay to claim their prize. You can see more Safety Tips here: https://info.pch.com/fraud-protection. Stay safe!

  6. 4/13/23 I received a call from David Sayers. He told me what I had won, and asked if I wanted a public or private announcement. I said private. He was to send me documentation which I received this morning, but I wasn’t too impressed by it. He had promised to call me. He was going to arrange for me to take a test drive in the 2023 Mercedes Benz with a local dealership.

    1. Hello Franklin, 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. If you haven’t already done so, please report that scam contact to us via the following link: http://bit.ly/Report-Scam-To-PCH. Stay safe everyone!

  7. Good Morning,

    I received a phone call/message at 10:37am on 4/5/2023 “allegedly” from Publishers Clearing House indicating I had won a huge prize ($10,000/week for life, plus a GMC Sierra, plus $13.5 million). Wow, what a prize…… I mean scam!! I expect you all to show up with flowers, a big banner, one of those HUGE checks and everything else you all do. So the main detains for the call, in case you want to get your investigators on the trail:
    1) caller claimed to be Susan Williamson from PCH Claims Department
    2) said my Claims person was a Mr. Tom Slone (I think, name was a bit muffled).
    3) said my claim number was $$$ $$ PCH
    4) Said I should call the Claims Department at $$$ $$$-$$$$

    I have saved to voicemail message, in case you would like to hear the whole thing.

    1. Hi Jim, we’re glad you could tell that was a scammer! Please report all contacts from scammers to PCH via this link: http://bit.ly/Report-Scam-To-PCH. PCH does partner with the Federal Trade Commission and we send all scam reports to them so please make sure you let us know anytime a scammer contacts you. Remember, the real PCH never notifies major prize winners via phone, standard mail, email, or social media, and we never ask winners to pay to claim their prize. You can see more Safety Tips here: https://info.pch.com/fraud-protection. Stay safe!

    1. Hi Dorothy, we’re so sorry to hear about that. Please report that scammer to PCH via this link: http://bit.ly/Report-Scam-To-PCH. PCH partners with the Federal Trade Commission and we send all scam reports to them, so please make sure you let us know anytime a scammer contacts you. Remember, the real PCH never notifies major prize winners via phone, standard mail, email, or social media, and we never ask winners to pay to claim their prize. You can see more Safety Tips here: https://bit.ly/FraudProtection2. Stay safe!

    1. Hi David, it sounds like you were contacted by a scammer. 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 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!

  8. I received a call on 3-30-23 at 7:31 pm and it went to my voicemail. The message claimed it was a Dorothy Lamb calling and saying that I had won the Publishers Clearing House contest. I knew it was a scam so erased the message. Then this morning, 3-30-23 I got another call with the same message at 5:12 AM!!! I didn’t answer and let it go to voicemail but hung up before the message completed because it disturbed our entire household including the pets. They claimed to be Dorothy Lamb again.

    1. Hi Laura, we’re very sorry to hear the scammers are bothering you. Please report all contacts from scammers to PCH via this link: http://bit.ly/Report-Scam-To-PCH. PCH does partner with the Federal Trade Commission and we send all scam reports to them so please make sure you let us know anytime a scammer contacts you. Remember, the real PCH never notifies major prize winners via phone, standard mail, email, or social media, and we never ask winners to pay to claim their prize. You can see more Safety Tips here: https://bit.ly/Fraud-Protection. Stay safe!