Table Of Content
- Public/Private Partnerships
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- Scams with Steve: How to avoid lottery scams
- Verify Your Wins With Publishers Clearing House Directly
- All Customer Service Inquiries:
- Howie Guja, PCH Prize Patrol Team Member:
- Watch: How scam call centers work, according to a 'scambaiter'

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. 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.
Public/Private Partnerships
Currently Danielle is the Senior Manager of Promotion Development where she serves as active member of the online testing team and leads the Promotion Development team where new promotions and giveaways are created. She is best known for delivering the signature big check to our lucky winners as seen on TV. Danielle received her bachelor’s degree in Communications from Loyola University in Maryland. Recently we've been hearing reports that scammers are accessing and using the names of our real PCH employees in their criminal attempts to deceive you. Names you've come to know and recognize such as Dave Sayer, Howie Guja and Danielle Lam — all real members of our famous PCH Prize Patrol. If you use it, however, you transmit your information directly to scammers instead.
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Fake Facebook page scams were such a problem for PCH that they shut down individual social media accounts for their Prize Patrol members. So do not try to contact Prize Patrol members directly through social media, and be very wary of any requests you get from accounts pretending to be from them. If you prefer not to telephone PCH, you can send questions about potential scams by email to If you receive a scam email, you can forward it to PCH using this contact method, which helps them take action against the scammer. Dave Sayer joined PCH as Director of Advertising in 1981 following a career with New York ad agencies where he served the media/marketing needs of many household-name accounts.
Scams with Steve: How to avoid lottery scams
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. Recognizing the difference between legitimate sweepstakes and other types of offers that may not be legitimate will help you protect yourself and your family. But please keep these valuable tips and warning signs in mind to help you identify which offers are real and which are scams. There are lots of fun and heartwarming stories from real PCH winners on these social media channels. That letter even included his name, as schemers often use the names of real PCH employees to make their messages sound more legitimate.
Verify Your Wins With Publishers Clearing House Directly
PCH was a founding corporate member of the National Public/Private Fake Check Task Force sponsored by the National Consumers League and Consumer Federation of America. Protect yourself from this scam by remembering you never have to pay money to get money you have supposedly won. The scam claiming you've won a lot of money is not a new one, but it has evolved to levels that still have viewers wondering if it's real.

“These guys, the scam artists, are pretty sophisticated, they try to say all the right things,” Irving said. The folks at PCH headquarters in New York were more than happy to see a recent story in which the Problem Solvers warned how easy it is to fall victim. WARN, the state Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, requires that companies with 50 full-time employees or more file a notice of a mass layoff or a closing 90 days in advance. Publishers said the layoffs will not impact its sweepstakes, which have given out $593 million in prizes over the years. Judd, 70, is known online for his boisterous press conferences, during which he shares information about the people the Polk County Sheriff's Office arrests.
Don’t fall for ‘lookalike’ mailings that try to mislead consumers by imitating legitimate sweepstakes. PCH offers a live chat option, which lets you connect to a customer service representative during business hours. Use this option to voice a complaint, get immediate answers to your questions, and more. The victim is instructed to deposit the check in their account and immediately return most of it to the claims manager to cover taxes and fees.
If your prize notification asks for money to pay for taxes, to release the prize, to pay for customs, or for any other reason, it's a scam. No one can prevent all identity theft or monitor all transactions effectively. Further, any testimonials on this website reflect experiences that are personal to those particular users, and may not necessarily be representative of all users of our products and/or services. We do not claim, and you should not assume, that all users will have the same experiences. If you think you’ve won a prize from Publishers Clearing House (PCH), you need to be especially careful with how you proceed.
Fake Publishers Clearing House Scammers Target Bladen County - - BladenOnline.com
Fake Publishers Clearing House Scammers Target Bladen County -.
Posted: Thu, 08 Jun 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
We will provide you with helpful information and take whatever special steps may be appropriate to assist. With all the prize winning that goes on here at PCH, there’s a very lucky group of people that gets to see all the winning in real time – the PCH Prize Patrol. Tanya’s brother was told the money was needed to pay to have the prize delivered and to pay taxes.
Members represent over 20 financial institutions, associations, consumer advocacy groups and businesses. During Friday's press conference, Judd said the scammers targeted an older woman with early signs of dementia. They told her she won $3 million in a Publisher's Clearing House sweepstakes and that she needed to pay them taxes, Judd said.
Police arrested Michael Lawrence and Max Richards in connection to the scam but could only recover around $40,000 of the money, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said in a press conference on Friday, according to Fox 13. A few days later the bank will inform the victim that the check bounced. Now, the victim is responsible for the thousands of dollars they sent away. In the case of that woman from Michigan - and most of these scams - it's likely authorities will never be able to track down that money.