It’s a story I see all too often when interacting with PCH fans in the social space. A fan will leave a comment on our Official PCH Fan Page on Facebook and less than 5 minutes later, they will get a friend request from a scammer claiming to be a PCH employee. Generally, these scammers pass themselves off as Dave, Todd, or Danielle with the intention of tricking our fans into believing they’ve won. I could go more in depth with the explanation, but here’s a video that covers how the scammers target PCH fans on Facebook.
[tube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcIammMzrbY[/tube]
Over the past few months, our Community Managers have noticed a pattern. A fan usually receives “friend request” shortly after leaving a comment. Generally scammers watch the PCH page closely and contact the first person they see that’s left a comment. We’ve heard from fans that this often makes them uneasy and many times, annoyed. Some of our fans have told us that they will sometimes accept the friend request just to be able to say “GOTCHA!” to the scammer and let them know they’re on to their game, although we highly advise against this.
Our Consumer Affairs department works closely with Facebook and local authorities to help identify and try to catch these PCH scammers, by sharing data reported to our Fraud Division. Unfortunately, though, this is a process that takes time, and we can’t stop them straight off the bat. But there is something you can do to protect yourselves – and it’s much easier than you think.
PREVENT FRIEND REQUESTS FROM SCAMMERS!
Facebook privacy settings allow you to limit the amount of contact that strangers have with you on Facebook. This means that if you leave a comment on a PCH post and a scammer clicks on your name, they will not be able to send you a private message or even send you a friend request. Here’s how to check your privacy settings on Facebook.
How To Check Your Facebook Privacy Settings
1. Log into Facebook from your desktop computer.
2. On the top right hand side of the page click the small icon that looks like a padlock. These are your privacy settings.
3. Click on “Who Can Contact Me.”
4. Look at the settings beneath the question “Whose Messages Do I Want Filtered Into My Inbox?” Selecting “Strict Filtering” will make it more difficult for scammers to chat with you.
5. Then look at the settings beneath the question “Who Can Send Me Friend Requests” and make sure that it is set to “Friends of Friends.” Leaving it set to “Everyone” may be a personal preference, but keep in mind that scammers can then send you friend requests.
So please, consider taking these steps to help prevent friend requests from PCH scammers. Interacting with us should be a fun experience for all of our fans, but most importantly we want to make sure you stay safe! Don’t let PCH scammers ruin the fun!
Stay safe everyone,
Sarah S.
Social Media
Other blogs you may like:
Advice from a Real PCH Fan: Beware of Scams on Facebook!
I get several contacts a day from scammers. Just the fact that I get any contact from anyone saying the are from PCH is a dead giveaway that they’re a scammer because PCH does not contact people on social media. So I have started saving the profile pages of all of these contacts and I’ve got quite a few of me I would say a total of maybe 30 or more. Now when I do get a contact from anybody like that I just sent him a copy of the message that this page the official verified PCH account sent me about scams here’s not long ago they usually don’t contact me again at least that one doesn’t.
Hello Don, We’re glad you knew that wasn’t the real PCH. As tempting as it may be, we don’t encourage anyone to engage a scammer any longer than is minimally necessary. Simply tell them you know they’re a scam and hang up. PCH doesn’t notify major winners by phone, standard mail, email, or social media, and we never ask for money to claim a prize. Please report all scam contacts to PCH via the following link: http://bit.ly/Report-Scam-To-PCH. You can also check out this FAQ for info on how you can block scammers from contacting you via Facebook: http://bit.ly/StopFBScammers. Stay safe everyone and be careful of scammers pretending to be the REAL Prize Patrol!
I’ve being hacked a long time. I don’t know if I won or not, one person got in my phone and took over. I’m on my third phone, 4 email accounts. They’re blocking me from everything, I need help.
Hi Jordan! We’d be happy to assist you with this but we’re going to need a little more information. Please reach out to our Customer Service team who will be happy to help. You can find all our contact information right here: http://bit.ly/ContactPCH. We look forward to hearing from you!
I received a message from someone saying they were with PCH and I had won a big amount of money and a Ford Truck. The man wanted me to give him my bank info. When I said I can’t do that. I told them I don’t give my bank information to anyone. One of them called me and I said PCH comes to the home of the winner to deliver their winnings. This person was rude I just knew they were scammers. About 2_weeks ago I gotta message saying I had won 5 hundred thousand dollars but I had to pay the IRS a fee for the winnings and the charges would have to be paid before they would deliver a check to my door step. This person told me to go purchase gift cards for 25 $ 50 $ 20 $ and 1000 $. This person told me to scratch the cards and text the numbers to them I did that . Now they want 200 $ more Is there any thing I can do get my money back from these scammers?
Hi Clarcey, we’re very sorry to hear about that. You can report them 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!
I got scammed, I think, and they keep asking for cards, and now they want me to get a credit card or my bank information to put my money in. They are on Google Chat, and she or he also sent me her FBI agent, so I will feel at ease. I have pictures of their Gmail address, but I don’t know how to give it to them or to whom.
Hi Pedro! 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!
I was informed that I would be given $2,000,000.00, but the person who told me was Howie, and if I did not give them a card that was $500.00, they would not send the money to me from FedEx. He also told me that he would send the FBI to my home and have me go to jail.
Hi Susan! 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/FraudProtection2. Please be careful everyone; don’t become a scammer’s victim.
I was told I was a winner of a bunch of money and a truck, a Ford truck, and they gave me a lucky number, a ticket number, a batch number, and a cylinder serial number, and they told me to write it down and keep it and don’t show anybody. Is this a scam?
Hi Leslie! 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 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!
Thank you… and I’ve read the PCH rules several times and watched some of the videos as well! I’ve been contacted by too many to even mention in the last year, pretending to be PCH Prize Patrol and other people that work for PCH, and it’s hard to not talk to them, at least because you have your hopes up of winning, and that’s how they scam so many… Play with the people’s hope! 👋😎
My name is Shawn, and my scammer site had the logo of the blue circle with the back ✔️ checkmark in it saying PCH.
Hello Shawn, We’re so happy that you knew that wasn’t the real PCH who contacted you. We also don’t notify winners via phone, standard mail, email, or social media. Please report all scam contacts to PCH via this link: http://bit.ly/Report-Scam-To-PCH. Stay safe everyone!
I just received a text message through my phone claiming I’m a prize winner. It’s asking for things like my full name, address, monthly income, age, marital status, deaf or hearing, rent or own etc.
Hi Angela! 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! You can report them to us at this link: https://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!
We were informed that we had won prize money from PCH. They are asking for address information. The name of the person is Danielle Lam. Her number is Pchagent1753. How legitimate is this?
Hi Rodney! 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/FraudProtection2. Please be careful everyone; don’t become a scammer’s victim.