Greetings, fans and friends!
Today is Saturday, which means it’s time for the weekly “Danielle’s Desk” video on PCH’s Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter pages – where Danielle of the PCH Prize Patrol answers questions from our fans.
Today’s question on Danielle’s Desk is: I Was Asked to Pay a Fee to Claim My Prize. Was This PCH? Here’s Danielle with the answer:
That’s a really good question … and just to make sure all of our fans and friends know the answer, here are some of the key points that Danielle emphasizes in this video:
• The answer to the question I Was Asked to Pay a Fee to Claim My Prize. Was This PCH? Is NO.
• If you are contacted by someone claiming to be from Publishers Clearing House or claiming to be a PCH Employee who says that you won a prize but in order to claim it, you must …
• buy a gift card or a money order
• pay a shipping, handling or delivery fee
• prepay taxes
• pay a deposit
• give a credit card number, bank information or your personal information
• call a toll-free number
… that person is NOT affiliated with the real Publishers Clearing House.
At PCH, you will NEVER be asked to pay a fee to claim your prize! The winning is always 100% FREE and 100% FUN!
Now that you know that you will never be asked to pay a fee to claim a Publishers Clearing House prize, I hope you’ll steer clear of imposters pretending to be from PCH. In fact, the smart thing to do is report it to us right away by completing our online PCH Scam Incident Report. It’s fast and easy, and not only will it help us, it will help other fans and friends who might be contacted by imposters claiming to be from PCH.
If you’ve been contacted by someone asking you to pay a fee to claim a PCH prize, let us know in the comments below.
Stay safe, fans and friends, and stay in it to win it!
Debbie K.
PCH Creative
I received a letter stating I had won $8376.66 but that I needed to pay Administrative fees, taxes and shipping/handling costs. It also stated this was in conjunction with the International Lottery Commission. The claims agent name was Michael Woodbrooke at phone number (929) 800-$$$$. It was signed by PCH Executive Vice President Deborah Holland.
Hi Patricia, we’re so happy that you knew that wasn’t the real PCH who contacted you. We will never ask for money to claim a prize. We also don’t notify winners via phone, standard mail, email, or social media. Please report all scam contacts to PCH via this link: http://bit.ly/Report-Scam-To-PCH. We encourage everyone to review the following Safety Tips to better protect themselves from being scammed: https://bit.ly/FraudProtection2. Stay safe everyone!
The number of the person that keeps calling is 516-544-$$$$ they keep calling!
Hello Mary, That is not the real PCH calling you; it’s a scammer that’s only pretending to be from PCH. Please do not call that number, do not give the scammer any personal info including bank account information, and definitely do not send them any money if they ask. If you haven’t already done so, please report that scam contact to us via the following link: http://bit.ly/Report-Scam-To-PCH. Stay safe and have fun everyone!
You should know that Debra Holland on fb messenger say to get my winnings from PCH sweepstakes. I have to give my license and SSI number, and moms maiden name. That $$$$$ my job, my occupation and pictures of said documents. I believe that that’s against the law, and to steal your personal information. PCH will I ever get my winnings from PCH or is this what PCH is all about?
Hello Norris, that is a scammer pretending to be Danielle Lam – not the real Danielle Lam! The real Prize Patrol never sends friend requests, winner notifications or private messages on Facebook and you never need to pay to claim a prize. Do not give the scammer ANY of your personal information or any money! Please report this scam to us by completing a scam incident report. Click this link to find out how: https://bit.ly/Report-Scam-To-PCH. Check out this blog to find out how to prevent them from contacting you: https://bit.ly/StopFBScammers. Stay safe!
Wonder if have pay FedEx fee for delivery to home?
Hello Tammy, Our major prize winners via phone, standard mail, email, or social media, and we never ask for money to claim a prize. Please report all scam contacts to PCH via this link: http://bit.ly/Report-Scam-To-PCH. Stay safe everyone!
Caller from 1-650-209-$$$$
Told me I had to pay a processing fee in order to win the second prize of $1M.
Hello Leanne, 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. Stay safe and have fun everyone!!
I have been contacted by someone who claims to be pch and they are using a picture of a lady who looks something like u and her name is Danielle Lam and she is claiming to be with PCH and telling me I won a million dollars a for the rest of my life. And claimS she got my name from a random email registry that flips thought billions of emails and picks a random winner for this prize and I don’t have any reason to be able to get picked as I’m not registered for any of ur games or prizes for that matter, and I am not going to be a fool and get scammed for the Lil bit of money. I do have and I don’t know why it is that I keep getting messages like this from people who claim to be PCH. I don’t know what to do with the info I have to get the people busted but I’m going to be able and willing to help out if you want me to do so.
Hello Joshua, We’re so happy that you knew that wasn’t the real PCH who contacted you. We do not notify winners via phone, standard mail, email, or social media. We will never ask for money to claim a prize. Please report all scam contacts to PCH via this link: http://bit.ly/Report-Scam-To-PCH. We encourage everyone to review the following Safety Tips to better protect themselves from being scammed: https://bit.ly/FraudProtection2 Stay safe and have fun everyone!
Someone claiming to be Deborah Holland contacted us via messenger stating she worked for PCH was trying to contact us to let us know we had won 2.5 million n a new caddy with 5 years insurance coverage. Now being the victim of scammers n hackers several times over has mad us very careful on who we give our personal info to. So I took the liberty of looking her name up. And in fact she is really employed at PCH but the blog says she doesn’t handle claims nor any thing affiliated with the public. The blog also stated that yawls out for sure, she said she would give our prize to someone else just because we thought she was a hacker, because of your facts on your blog.
Hello Wendy, Thank you very much for reporting the scammers that have contacted you. Stopping them is a team effort and we are happy that you are doing your part. While it may be tempting, we don’t encourage you to interact with them any more than is minimally necessary. Simply tell them that you know they’re not the real PCH and hang up or disconnect your mode of contact with them. To stop scammers from contacting you on Facebook, check out this PCH Blog article: http://bit.ly/StopFBScammers. Be careful and stay safe everyone!!
THEY SAID TOO GET MY WINNINGS I HAVE TOO PAY THEM DELIVERY FEE DAVE SAYERS SAID IT
Hi Joe, Stopping these scammers is a team effort. 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 recommend you also check out this PCH blog article to see how you can prevent scammers from contacting you on Facebook: http://bit.ly/StopFBScammers. Stay safe everyone and be careful of scammers pretending to be the REAL Prize Patrol!
I was contacted by pch Washington phone number says I have to pay for my winnings pch why when it clearly says winnings is always free pay fedex delivery truck.
Yes I’m being contacted now from a person, claiming to be from PCH saying that I have to pay a delivery fee to FedEx.
Hello David, 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. Please be careful everyone; don’t become a scammer’s victim.