Accessibility Statement

PCH Scam Alert: How Can You Tell If a PCH Instagram Account Is Fake?

What you see above is a special warning from PCH Prize Patrol Elite member Danielle Lam, which she created and posted to her Instagram page. Why? Because Danielle’s REAL PCH Prize Patrol Instagram page is the ONLY one that’s officially verified. It’s the ONLY one with the blue check mark – which you can clearly see to the right of “pchprizepatroldanielle” in the image below.

In addition, here is the link to the real, verified Instagram page of the PCH Prize Patrol – the ONLY one that’s officially verified.

Beware of PCH Scammers on Instagram

Don’t be fooled by the photos and posts on Instagram of what might seem to be members of the Prize Patrol. These are FAKE. Do NOT respond to posts such as those below marked “FAKE”:

You see, fans, there are scammers out there who want to make you believe they are Danielle Lam … or Howie Guja … or Todd Sloane … or Dave Sayer … or maybe even other supposed “PCH employees.” The goal of these scammers is to make you think you’ve won a PCH prize … after which they might ask you to pay a fee or wire money in order for you to claim a fake and nonexistent “prize.”

We cannot emphasize this enough:

  1. The PCH Prize Patrol will never contact you on Instagram, Facebook or any other type of social media to tell you that you’ve won a prize. If you see a social media message telling you that you are a big winner, it is a SCAM!
  2. The ONLY way in which the PCH Prize Patrol will award a winner a major prize is to surprise the winner in person – just like you see on TV – with the “Big Check,” balloons, roses and champagne.
  3. At PCH the winning is always FREE. You NEVER have to pay to win a PCH prize!

Help Report PCH Scammers on Instagram!

If you are contacted by a scammer pretending to be from PCH, do not accept their request and do not contact them directly. What you can do is follow these simple steps to report them to Instagram:

  1. On the scammer’s page, click the three dots on the upper right.
  2. Click “It’s Inappropriate”
  3. Click “I believe this account violates Instagram’s community guidelines”
  4. Click “Report Account”
  5. Click “This profile is pretending to be someone else”
  6. Click “A celebrity or public figure”
  7. Then, you’ll get a screen asking “Who is being impersonated?”. Type “Publishers Clearing House”.

Here at PCH, your security is a top priority! For more scam prevention tips, please visit our Scam Prevention tab on Facebook and our Fraud Protection page at PCH.com.

Stay safe, everyone!

Debbie K.
PCH Creative

Other blogs you make enjoy:
Do Not Post Personal Information on Social Media
Beware of PCH Scams on Facebook and Instagram
Beware of PCH Scams on Instagram – Top 3 Ways to Spot a PCH Scammer 

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Comments

    1. Hi Dennis! 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.

  1. I received a message from Danielle Lam or someone who says they are. Saying I won a million dollars and to follow Dave and Anthony. Is this them? Thanks

    1. Hi Elizabeth, that is a scammer posing as Danielle! The real Danielle doesn’t privately contact winners via Facebook and you never need to pay to claim a PCH prize. Do not give the scammer ANY of your personal information. Please report this scam to us by completing a scam incident report. Click this link to find out how: https://bit.ly/Report-Scam-To-PCH. Check out our Fraud Protection site to see how to stay safe: https://bit.ly/PCHFraudPrevention. Stay safe!

    1. Hi Lesa! 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!

      1. Hi Ronald! That is definitely a scammer who contacted you. PCH will never send friend requests, private messages, or winner notifications via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc; we also never ask for money to claim a prize. Do not give this person any personal information and certainly do not send them any money!! Instead, 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 and stay safe!

  2. I Am an author and my publisher has me all over social media. I have scammers contact me quite often. I have been contacted by “Danielle Lam from PCH” very demanding. She said PCH selects special people to get the prize. I have screenshots if you would like them. I told them they were scammers. She did everything possible to convince me otherwise. She insisted I speak on video phone with CEO to prove it. My number is public knowledge because of my line of work. I almost had them call to record them. I’m too busy for this stuff.

    1. Hi Rose! 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. Stay safe!

  3. Received a call from Paul White saying he was a truck drive delivering my 2021 Lincoln and 1.2 million dollars. He said he would deliver later today. I asked him what my name was and he said he didn’t have that information but his manager did and to call ###-###-8242. I never called.

  4. They are good at what they do. Don’t think you would never fall for their tricks. We have to report them all once you know it is a scam. They are getting peoples life savings and destroying lives. Report them all.

  5. IReceived a phone call and Emails from Todd Sloane that I won 2.5 million , 7000 a week for life ND a new Mercedes Benze all I had to do was pay 20000.00, I told him That I had no money, he then said if I could pay 5000, I told that I could not and would not pay anything. He than gave me an acc # and pin plus phone number for the Federal Reserve in New York for me to call saying that the money was in my account. I called the number , the answering new my name before I told him it ,I hung up on him wanting nothing more to do with this Scam. Todd Sloan called my cell again but I didn’t answer, scam!

    1. Hi Thomas! The call and emails you received were not from the real Todd. We don’t contact our fans privately. 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. I also encourage you to take a look at this PCH Blog for info on how you can stop scammers from contacting you: http://bit.ly/StopFBScammers. Stay safe everyone!!

  6. I get a call from a lady name Suzanne Reid and she said that she was for pch and said I won a lot of money and wanted me to go to my bank and get a cancel check for the taxes on my winnings.

    1. Hello Bob, 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.

      1. Hi Derek, that is definitely a scammer who contacted you! 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!!

  7. I got message from Andrew Goldberg Chief Executive Officer of the PCH Company that I will receive my prize delivery today after send my ID Photo and photo of the Vanilla Gift Card ( front / back ) to him .. Is it true that he is ?