Greetings, fans and friends!
Do you have to pay to claim a PCH prize? If you’ve won a Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes, is there a fee in order to receive your winnings?
The answer is absolutely NOT. Not only are PCH sweepstakes and giveaways always FREE to enter, you never have to pay a penny to claim a PCH prize – of any amount – EVER!
In fact, if anyone tells you – either by phone; email; or social media like Facebook or Twitter or Instagram; that you’ve won a PCH prize and you must make some sort of payment in order to claim it, THIS IS A SCAM!
Paying to Claim a Prize? That’s a PCH Scam!
Let’s break it down here:
- Publishers Clearing House would never ask you to pay to claim a prize of any amount.
- Publishers Clearing House would never call winners in advance, would never send you a Facebook friend request, and would never engage in any other type of social media conversation with you!
- For major prizes, the PCH Prize Patrol will deliver your prize check to you in person – along with balloons, champagne and roses.
- If you are asked to send cash or a check … or purchase a Green Dot MoneyPak prepaid card or any other cash card – DON’T DO IT! The scammer will ask for the numbers located on the back of the card. Once they have this information they are able to access the money quickly. And once the money is gone, it’s gone forever.
There are NEVER any fees to claiming a prize!
If there’s one thing to remember here, fans and friends, it’s that if you become a PCH prize winner, we pay YOU! You NEVER have to pay us.
At Publishers Clearing House the winning is ALWAYS FREE, and there are NEVER any fees to claiming a prize! If someone tells you that you’ve won a prize, but that in order to claim it you need to give them money for any reason – STOP – it’s a SCAM!
I hope I’ve made this all perfectly clear. At PCH, we love to make entering enjoyable and exciting, we love to award prizes and we love to make dreams come true!
If you believe you’ve been contacted by a scammer, please fill out our Scam Incident Report right away!
Stay safe … and have fun!
Debbie K.
PCH Creative
P.S. If you’ve learned one important lesson from this blog, what is it? Please comment below!
Other blogs you may like:
Beware of PCH Scams on Facebook and Instagram
What if I owe for orders I haven’t paid in full? Can I still win the prize if my number is picked? Or will I have to settle all debts to be eligible
Hi Nicholas! In order to assist you with this matter, we ask that you please reach out to our Customer Service team. Our Customer Service Representatives are available to assist you Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM to 11 PM & Saturday 8:30 AM to 5 PM Eastern Time: https://bit.ly/ContactPCH. Let me know if you need anything else!
Some one call me and said I won 7 million dollars and I had to pay 400 dollars to get it and I know it was a scam so I did not call John Williams back thanks for the heads up
Hi Connie! 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.
Mr. Mike James from the PCH branch office said that 8 had won $750,000 and told me I need to send $300 on cash app or gift card or zelle or PayPal to pay this processing fee to get my check sent in the next hour! I literally argued with this person for over half an hour just for fun I even told him I was a cop lol I literally sent them a screenshot of your website stating that it cost me nothing to win a prize and he tried to argue with me and he said he was from the publishers clearing House branch office I would think that somebody from the branch office would know that it cost nothing to win which I got to message like this the day before yesterday from totally somebody else in the past 2 days I should have won $850,000 but yesterday would have cost me $200 today would have cost me $300 so I would have been out $500 to get scammed but I’m smarter than that and I just kept toying with them it was fun he tried to tell me it’s not free who tell you that I said every major news station in America these people really really tried to get me to send them some money I was like oh yeah okay sure where do I send it to blah blah blah then I was like oh yeah no I’m not sending you any money I literally argued with this person for over 30 minutes trying to tell him he was a scam oh no I’m legit I’m legit I want you to trust me blah blah blah I said I don’t even trust myself why would I trust you these people are really trying these days so look at everybody
Hi Daniell! 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. 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. Stay safe!
They said won 50 thousands dollars that I had to pay a fee
on today I received a call from John Miller asking me to send 499.99 for a 2.8 million dollar prize…
Hi Josephine! 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. Please report any details you have about that scam contact to us at this link: http://bit.ly/Report-Scam-To-PCH. I also encourage you to check out these Safety Tips for some great info on what to watch for: https://bit.ly/FraudProtection2. Stay safe everyone!!
Please call me at 21$$$$$$$$
Hello Nicole, thank you for contacting PCH. In order for us to assist you with your question we will need a bit more information. We kindly ask that you contact us by phone at your convenience. Our customer service representatives may be reached at http://bit.ly/ContactPCH between Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM to 11 PM & Saturday 8:30 AM to 5 PM Eastern Time. We look forward to hearing from you.
Popular scam going round with phone number 917-377-3090 and 727-436-1661 in Florida say Dave abd David😂😂 ask for 450. green dot card for fees!
Car and 2.5 million,5,000 for life!
Hello Kathy, that is definitely a scam! 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!
I received a phone call from Bobby, He sent me documents to sign and said I need to pay for insurance $4253. He emailed me 7 pages of documents.
I am not sure what to do.
Hello Kay, 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. Please report any details you have about that scam contact to us at this link: http://bit.ly/Report-Scam-To-PCH. I also encourage you to check out these Safety Tips for some great info on what to watch for: https://bit.ly/FraudProtection2. Stay safe everyone!!
Block him
I received a phone call today saying they were phc and I won $3,000,000 but I h ad to send them $350.00 for Shipping & Handling. I told them I couldn’t afford to send them that amount so they said they would work with me on a lower amount. I politely told them that what money I had was for my bills and I wasn’t taking any chances on losing it and if that meant me losing the $300,000 that was OK..I have lived my whole life with just enough to pay my bills and needs and was blessed for that and I would rather know that my bills were paid than stuck not being paid. The phone number 1-708-779-7473 out of Illinois.
Hello Carlene, 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. Please report any details you have about that scam contact to us at this link: http://bit.ly/Report-Scam-To-PCH. I also encourage you to check out these Safety Tips for some great info on what to watch for: https://bit.ly/FraudProtection2. Stay safe everyone!!
Great!
I received a call that said I won and the money had been transferred to a bank and there was a $480.00 charge to claim from bank and have it delivered
Hi Harley, so 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-2/. Take care!
I almost fell for a scam. I still have the correspondence if it would help you find the culprits.
Hi Marigene! 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.