PCH Scam Alert: Do Not Post Personal Information on Social Media!

Last Updated: March 6, 2018

Greetings, fans and friends!

Danielle Lam from the Publishers Clearing House Prize Patrol is looking mighty serious in the photo above. And with good reason! She wants all of you PCH fans out there to stay safe from PCH scams!

After all, the more personal information you post on social media like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, the more information there is available for someone to use to contact you falsely claiming to be from PCH. Those scammers can be ruthless – they’ll take any information they can find about you – your address, your phone number, even your birthday – in order to contact you and claim that you’ve (falsely) won a PCH prize!

Do not post personal information on the PCH Blog!

In addition to social media, I would also like to remind you not to post personal information on the PCH Blog – which can be viewed by anyone with access to the Internet! Posting personal information on the blog could provide a PCH imposter information to use in reaching out in attempts to deceive.

What is personal information anyhow?


Let’s take a moment to talk about what I mean by personal information – the kind of information you do not want the PCH imposter scammers to get their grubby little hands on …

  • DO NOT POST YOUR ADDRESS! This includes your home address, work address, and the addresses of family members.
  • DO NOT POST YOUR PHONE NUMBER – your home number, cell number, office number or emergency contact number.
  • DO NOT – EVER – POST YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER!
  • DO NOT POST YOUR BIRTHDAY or the birthdays of other family members. PCH scammers know that big prizes make great birthday gifts!
  • DO NOT POST INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR FAMILY – especially your kids’ names and ages or where they go to school.
  • DO NOT POST PERSONAL HEALTH INFORMATION! This information should always remain private – and in addition, scammers often seek out the most vulnerable among us.
  • DO NOT POST ANY PERSONAL INFORMATION YOU FIND IN A PCH MAILING – whether it is an email or mail that arrives in an envelope! This includes your I.D. number, your unique SuperPrize number, or any codes or abbreviations you might find. A clever scammer might contact you and say, “Congratulations! I see that your I.D. number for Giveaway 11000, 1234567890, is the matching winning number in the PCH Sweeps, and you’ve won a million dollars!” Besides, PCH’s contest drawings are random, and posting any of your numbers will NOT give you an advantage to win!

PCH Scam Prevention Tips

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.

Finally, if you believe you have received a suspicious email with PCH’s name and logo on it, please report it using our online Scam Incident Report.

Stay safe, everyone!

Sincerely,

Debbie K.
PCH Creative