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Ive never heard of them putting things in your cart you didnt order. Its pretty OBVIOUSLY a scam to sell product, but a local guy did win here about 10 yrs ago. We are SO GULLABLE nowadays we BELIEVE ANYTHING without Vetting 1st. NOBODY bothers to check things out even with all the internet at our fingertips. The purpose of this blog and its comments section is to inform readers about Federal Trade Commission activity, and share information to help them avoid, report, and recover from fraud, scams, and bad business practices.
Ask SAM: Is Publishers Clearing House for real or a scam?
Publishers Clearing House has recently been made aware of fraudulent text messages, which include a reference to the "Prize Patrol," being sent to mobile devices by scam artists. Recipients are told they have won a $1,000 Walmart gift card and are then asked to reply and visit a particular internet site where they will be asked to provide certain private and personal information. These sites are bogus and are in no way affiliated with Publishers Clearing House or our famous Prize Patrol. The message that you have won a Walmart gift card is bogus and any mention of Publishers Clearing House, our employees, or the PCH Prize Patrol is fraudulent and being used without our permission or authorization. Consumers should not respond to these bogus text messages and should not share personal or private information which could lead to identity theft or credit card fraud. Publishers Clearing House (PCH) does NOT send e-mails notifying consumers that they have won a major prize.
Spot scammers looking to profit from Midwest tornadoes
Publishers Clearing House is a direct marketing company that markets merchandise and magazine subscriptions with sweepstakes and prize-based games. The company is known for its famous Prize Patrol and the presentation of big checks to million-dollar winners. Publishers Clearing House is headquartered in Jericho, N.Y. The company was founded by the Mertz family in 1953. Currently, Publishers Clearing House is owned by members of the family and a number of charitable trusts established by the family. In reality, the “agent” is a scam artist who will try to convince you to give up personal data in exchange for your winnings.
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If you think you’ve won a prize from Publishers Clearing House (PCH), you need to be especially careful with how you proceed. In this guide, we’ll explain how PCH scams work, the red flags to look out for, and what to do if you’ve sent money or information to scammers. Now take a moment to thoroughly vet every publisher on your longlist. Scams are a dime a dozen in the publishing industry, and you want to make 100% sure that you’re dealing with a legitimate publishing company. Again, we strongly recommend reading this post and Writer Beware to know what red flags to watch out for.
I Received A Check From PCH. Is It Real?
Scammers are adept at making people believe that they are affiliated with Publishers Clearing House when they're not. PCH is a popular target of scams because most Americans are familiar with the company, many have already entered the MegaPrize giveaways, and nearly all want to believe they have really won a prize. If after following all of these steps, you still end up sending money to the scammer, contact your local police office. You can also report a scam directly to Publishers Clearing House.
Publisher's Clearing House scam tricks seniors out of thousands - WRAL News
Publisher's Clearing House scam tricks seniors out of thousands.
Posted: Tue, 12 Sep 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
VERIFY: Do people really win the Publishers Clearing House? Or is it a scam?
And although the odds are extremely long, at least you don't have to pay to enter, like you must with lotteries. If you've received a sweepstakes spam phone call claiming to be from Publishers Clearing House, the Federal Trade Commission advises that you hang up immediately and report the scam to them. You can also report to PCH — they track scams that use their name.
Beware of Scam Calls
The company doesn’t even ask for your bank account information. With new technology, scams have also become sophisticated and it isn't easy to tell real sweepstakes from scams. Logos, names of legitimate employees, and signatures can all be copied and forged.
The reality here was that the company only notifies winners of their prizes by visiting them in person with their PCH Prize Patrol. They never award prizes over the phone, on social media, in email, or through the mail. The Federal Trade Commission works to promote competition and protect and educate consumers. The FTC will never demand money, make threats, tell you to transfer money, or promise you a prize.
Big-name sweepstakes sponsors like PCH are a prime target for scammers, who style win notifications to match the branding of the company they're impersonating. If you receive an email, phone call, email or letter from Publishers Clearing House saying that you're a big winner, it's easy to get so excited that you do or agree to things that make you vulnerable to money and identity theft. That's why it's important to be able to tell the difference between a legitimate prize win and a sweepstakes scam.
While this may be an opportunity to arrest this person, it would also mean putting yourself at risk being with this person. Contact your local law enforcement before considering such an action. You should always err on the side of safety and assume that anyone who would perpetrate such a scam would also have no conscience about using violence against you. While this may be the first time you have ever encountered it, they have likely run this scam multiple times. Now that you know that PCH sweepstakes are legit, you should also know that you still be scammed if you're not cautious enough. Although PCH's sweepstakes are legitimate, you should be cautious if you receive a prize notification claiming to come from PCH.
If you receive a telephone call from someone claiming you have won a sweepstakes prize and are asked to send money — STOP — you have not heard from a legitimate sweepstakes company. At Publishers Clearing House we do not notify our contest winners by phone. This would mean that the scammers would have a local money mule posing as Norma Dixon who would accompany you to the bank, receive your cashier's check, and then go and cash it.
Many scammers misuse the PCH name, pretending to come from the company when they really come from someone hoping to steal your money or your identity. Some of those scams are sophisticated enough to make it difficult to tell if you've really won or not. Winning sweepstakes often feels too good to be true — and sometimes, it is.
If you are asked to provide your credit card number or provide your financial bank account information in order to claim a sweepstakes prize — STOP. Fraudulent scam artists often request this information and then go on a spending spree with your credit card; or wipe out your bank account. Perhaps the most frightening part of the story is that he was told that after he had the money in his bank account, a personal representative by the name of Norma Dixon would accompany him to the bank. This is exactly the same name used in the exact same scam in this report from over a year ago.
If you win a major prize in our sweepstakes, the PCH Prize Patrol will contact you in person. For smaller prizes (usually less than $10,000.00), winners are notified by overnight delivery services (FedEx, UPS), certified mail, or email in the case on online giveaways. Postal Service, thousands of people receive scam mail daily, but "gift tax" and external payments required to accept a prize are often a clear sign that the letters are fraudulent. Christopher Irving, vice president of consumer and legal affairs at Publishers Clearing House, said the company never sends checks to consumers to tell them they have won a prize. When a person wins a major cash prize from Publishers Clearing House, representatives from the company show up unannounced with their "Prize Patrol" carrying a large check, flowers and champagne, he said. "On behalf of members and staff of Publishers Clearing House, Association of North America lottery and provincial sweepstakes, we sincerely congratulate you on the grand prize winnings of ($750,000)," the letter read.
Just this year, a Florida woman won $40,000 from a PCH prize, according to a newspaper account. Publishers Clearing House began in 1953 as a service that hawked magazine subscriptions. Responding to competitors, the company began to entice homeowners by offering them “sweepstakes” — chances to win tens of thousands and then millions of dollars. If you or someone you know have ever won their sweepstakes, the question of legitimacy may be moot, but for the majority of us, the question — “Is Publishers Clearing House a scam?
The Publisher's Clearing House name is often used by scammers, so the company is very clear and careful about how they notify their winners. Some people worry that because they know lots of people who have entered but no one who's ever won, the prizes aren't awarded and PCH sweepstakes are frauds. Others can't imagine how a company could legitimately give away such big prizes on a regular basis and still stay in business. In May 2022, Google and Twitter users were searching for answers after receiving phone calls from scammers who claimed to be affiliated with the Publishers Clearing House (PCH) sweepstakes.
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