With the numerous scams running rampant in our area, one specific scam has been gaining traction recently.
According to Mayor Anthony Court, he has received at least four or five phone calls regarding scammers posing at Publisher’s Clearing House.
“Unsolicited phone calls are always a scam,” Court said.
He said local people have lost out on a lot of money.
“I spoke with one lady who lost $18,000 in a similar type of scam,” he said.
Publisher’s Clearing House is a legitimate organization. Since 1967, when the Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes started, over $315 million in prizes has been awarded. PCH has a very specific and certifiable process to reach out to winners of their drawings and contests.
According to the PCH website, “At PCH winners of our major prize awards are notified live and in person by our famous Prize Patrol.”
Publisher’s Clearing House has a section on their website dedicated to fraud protection. Visit the section: https://info.pch.com/fraud-protection-2/
The website goes on to describe the process further: “Since PCH awards a steady range of prizes throughout the year, at our option we may notify winners of lesser prize amounts via an overnight express carrier such as UPS, FedEx or USPS, and Express Mail.”
The website also states there are never any “strings attached” to winning a prize, that the organization doesn’t ask for bank account information, never charges a processing fee, tax, or handling charge.
Should someone insist on charging you a fee, the website says to end the conversation because it is not Publisher’s Clearing House that you are speaking with.
To learn more about how to protect yourself from fraud, please visit the Publisher’s Clearing House website.
I was approached today by a man calling himself Mark Anderson telling me I won $5,000 for life and a Kia automobile he never asked for money he just wanted my personal information I’m almost 70 but I’m smart enough to know that is no so then I looked it up and he’s a scammer he has your logo on his Facebook page and he’s able to get a lot of people to follow
for 2.95 a month armstrong has a system to block all telemarkeyers and scammers.. its been 2 yrs i’ve had it and not even one call has got thru. well worth it..
Last night I received one of these scam calls impersonating PCH. I stayed on the line through many steps they were asking for, not revealing information that is not on public records anyway; finally they got to a point involving me to get a $500 gift card at a local store, which is when I did my pull out. In a heartbeat I was being transferred to another imposter, and this person began some derogatory speech toward me, by the conclusion, she used the EFF word to me and the call was done.
I was contacted yesterday by a person whose name is Billy Williams. He started to tell me that I won how much was it A large amount of money through public pictures clearinghouse. Since I do participate I thought it was the truth. I recognize the name and I asked him about his wife Judy. He just said she was OK and then began to wonder. I told him I wasn’t interested and he kept calling me throughout the day. He then showed a picture of himself which is a fellow I graduated with who is married to my friend Judy. Period. He called me again this morning he just doesn’t take no for an answer I haven’t fallen Ford thought you should know
I got a phone call today from a lady who said her name was Linda Gray and she was with publisher’s clearing house and that I’d won 1.8 million dollars and a new Ford Explorer. Then she asked if I was home and I told her I was at work until 6. She tried calling twice at 7, this time I didn’t answer.
Just ended a call to a man that claims he is from Publishers Clearing house, he claimed to be Mr. Green
Seems i won $20,000, I was to give 1% to start it, I merely laughed and told him to keep the money. He called twice last night and 3 times this morning, each time I told him to just keep it. What a pushy guy
Beware of fraudsters illegally representing publishers clearing House it is a fraud
I just received an order of polarized sunglasses that I did not order. When I opened the package and pulled out one sunglasses the lens fell out. Not a good sign. Then I tried to call, but that was impossible. When I ask for accounting I learned I had a balance of 47.00.News to me since I have not ordered. The one thing I did order I have never received. Please get this mess straightened out. Thanks. Derris Bradshaw
At 7:31 this evening a lady called me & said I had won 30 million dollars from Publishers Clearing House.. I talked to her for a while I never did give her any personal information. She said not to let any family members know about this call. She told me all of information regarding getting registered. She then told me to go to CVS, the Dollar Store or Walgreens & buy a Vanilla Visa card for 199.00 & keep the receipt, I then hung up the phone on her. She called me right back & said she was very disappointed that I hung up on her & she got very aggressive with me.
I was really taken in by this scumbag Michael Anderson, who claimed to be an agent of Publishers Clearing House. Lost a considerable sum of money. I’m really ashamed of myself. I filed a police report and also reported it to PCH. I suspected a red flag right from the outset and was too dumb in following through with it. People like this should spend a very long prison sentence.