Advice from A Real PCH Fan: Beware of Scams on Facebook!
We sure do love our fans!
What we don’t like one bit, however, is if our fans are approached by scammers claiming they’re from Publishers Clearing House.
As much as we try to warn unsuspecting individuals about the difference between the real Publishers Clearing House Sweeps and an illegitimate scam, we too often learn about good, honest folks going through some unfortunate experiences, like our fan Bradley F., who comments often on our blog.
Bradley commented on the PCH blog and said, “I’ve had 12 (supposed) friend requests from the ‘PCH Prize Patrol’ … recently scammers are sending emails to others on my Facebook account! The messages (say they) are from Danielle, Dave and Todd, saying I have won $35,000 … $75,000, etc. My dreams have risen above scammers, but will they ever quit? I have followed your guidelines appropriately … thank you for protecting us fans!”
This seemed like pretty serious stuff, so I reached out to Bradley to learn more about his experience with PCH scammers on Facebook. He told me that some of the “friend requests” he’s received from people impersonating the Prize Patrol are usually newly created profiles that did not exist earlier. For example, someone might claim to be “Danielle Lam” and even present the real Danielle Lam’s picture, but a few hours prior that particular Facebook profile did not exist.
Another red flag to be aware of, Bradley tells us, are posts with words and names that are misspelled … or names consisting of both upper and lower case letters … or names that almost look like the real Prize Patrol members, but aren’t. Here are some examples:
• Pch, PCh or PcH
• DAVE Sayer, DANIELLE lam or TOdD Sloane
• Dave Slayer or Danielle Lamb
If your Facebook message has wording like this, it’s a scam!
When I asked Bradley what he has done to protect himself from scammers, he told me that he’s safely blocked and reported the scammers as instructed by Publishers Clearing House.
Bradley offers some excellent advice to others regarding PCH scammers:
“If it seems too good to be true, it usually is! Be aware!”
Bradley is correct, and I cannot emphasize this enough: If someone from Publishers Clearing House sends you a friend request on Facebook, DON’T BE FOOLED! IT’S A SCAM! The Prize Patrol will NEVER send friend requests to you on Facebook. In addition, PCH Prize Patrol Elite members Danielle Lam, Dave Sayer and Todd Sloane, never send private messages on Facebook. Plus – and here’s a very important point to remember – PCH will NEVER notify its major prize winners through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or any social media website.
These are the ONLY legitimate Prize Patrol pages on Facebook:
Anyone who believes they have received a suspicious email using our name and logo, we ask that you fill out a Scam Incident Report.
I want to thank our fan Bradley for all his help! If any other PCH fans have scam stories they want to tell us about, please comment below!
Stay safe, everyone!
Debbie K.
PCH Creative
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