Fake Publishers Clearing House scam comes to Elkhart County, promising big prizes to victims
- Tommie Lee
- Oct 14, 2015
- 2 min read
Remember — if a piece of mail promising prizes seems suspicious or too good to be true, cross check it with the Better Business Bureau
It's one of those great American dreams — going to the mailbox and discovering you've won the Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes.
We've all seen the commercials featuring people just like us jumping up and down with their families at the front door, accepting balloons and an over-sized novelty check with a healthy smattering of zeroes on it.
For years scammers have preyed on this national fantasy and used the model of the PCH Sweepstakes, which is a genuine institution that has changed many lives, for their own nefarious ends.
Dreama Jensen from the Better Business Bureau of Northern Indianasays fake notifications and checks are showing up in the mail around Elkhart County. One such case involved a check for $2,800 that turned out to be invalid.
The check is part of an overpayment scam that piggybacks onto the old mail scam masquerading as the sweepstakes. The check Jensen was holding while she spoke about the situation Tuesday morning on Truth Radio 1340 was from a Credit Union in Minnesota, written from a bad account.
The PCH logo is absent from the check, which comes with instructions to deposit it and send $1,800 to a third party to cover the taxes for the prize. This would leave you with $1,000. The payment to the third party is long gone by the time your bank finishes processing the original check and discovers it’s a bad one, leaving you responsible for the $1,800 and any other expenditures or fees.
One victimized couple went so far as to spend days waiting for the prize van and cameras to show up at their home with news of their full prize.
As always, if you receive something in the mail that seems a bit suspect or too good to be true, you are encouraged to run it past the Better Business Bureau just to make sure you aren't cheated out of any money.
Tommie Lee is the host of the Truth Radio Early Edition from 6 to 9 a.m. weekdays on Truth Radio 1340 WTRC. Dreama Jensen appears at 8:40 a.m. ever Tuesday morning with the Scam of the Week.
Comments