How does publishing clearing house work

Facebook is a fabulous tool for sweepstakes fans, but it can also be a breeding ground for scams. One of these common scams uses fake Publishers Clearing House pages to trick victims. The scam works something like this: Scammers create a Facebook page that mimics the look of a real PCH page or a personal page of one of PCH's employees. They'll steal company logos, the PCH color scheme, photos of Prize Patrol members, and more to make their fake page look trustworthy.

PCH fans find and follow the page, and the scammers message them to tell them they've won a prize, then ask for money before they can claim their "winnings. To keep yourself safe from these scams, learn how to recognize and avoid fake Facebook pages. And remember: PCH never, ever notifies winners by Facebook messages. Remember, too, that all of PCH's official pages have been verified by Facebook. Don't trust any PCH page without a blue verification badge.

Publishers Clearing House works diligently to fight scams, both by working with law enforcement officials and through public education. If you've already sent money to a PCH scammer, contact your local police office. You'll also need to be extra cautious in the future because scammers consider people who have already been scammed to be easy prey, and there's a good chance that you will be targeted again. If you noticed you were being scammed in time and didn't send any money, check out these 7 places to report sweepstakes scams.

You can also follow these steps to report a scam directly to Publishers Clearing House. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile.

Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. When Harold founded PCH in , he was working as a manager in a door-to-door sales group for newspaper subscriptions. He replaced door-to-door magazine subscription sales with a single vendor system offering multiple subscriptions by mail. The company was based in Long Island, New York.

PCH is a direct marketing company. It sells a wide range of merchandise as well as magazine subscriptions. Magazine publishers give up such a large portion of the original subscription fee because they benefit from higher circulation numbers and renewals. The company popularized the idea of using contests to sell subscriptions in the eighties.

According to the official rules, the way this works is that once you purchase a subscription, you stand to win prizes of different amounts. Publishers Clearing House created Prize Patrol in to notify winners of major prize awards including SuperPrize winners in person instead of calling them.

Prize Patrol is a team of employees headed by Dave Sayer that also delivers prizes rather than hire actors for that. I agree with aktres- I got continuing mailings saying you need to certify your enrty, then next one is to re-certify, then anolther one to verify your re-certification, or something similar to this and so on.

All mailing are marketing some sort of merchandise and ask why you have not "tried" some yet. They do say you don't have to buy this stuff to be eligible for cash prizes. I dropped out after the 3 rd mailing. Then I got another mailing reminding me that I had not re-re-re-entered to which I never replied! I completely agree with you! Same happened to me and the scam envelope keeps coming. I just throw them away.

The real publishers is not a scam. Its the callers and emails that claim to be them that are. They are getting even more bold by claiming to be from your bank. They hack phone numbers and try to lure you in.

I got several and I say I live in a different state and they try to pull the "we have a package for you at the quickest big city they can think of , I keep changing the state. When I ask what the address is on the package they will hang up.

The newest version of this is now they are claiming to be calling from your bank. Be wary. I called my bank and made sure I was being protected from this. No and will never here a winner. They're scammers as in Publishing Clearing House scammers. I t got to the point where he was almost arguing with me and wouldn't verify basic information that Publishers Clearing has for me. It states straight out that in the rules that no funds are collected to receive any prizes.

Do not get conned out of any money by falling for these scams. I also received a surprise call from a Restricted number, and he also couldn't speak very clearly but he told me he was Michael Manley and he claimed that my phone number was selected as the 1 Winner. He wanted me to note my prize confirmation number, and said I could expect the Prize Team to deliver my check for 3. He swore on his children's lives that this was legitimate. The check would be from Bank of America. And he was going to be my Prize Director and I needed to stay on the line.

He put his General Manager on the phone, who also spoke poor English and they kept asking how close was I to a Walmart. That's when I decided to hang up. This just happened to me today. I didn't bother to pick up. I googled the number and PCH website. Its a scam. Said they were 25 minutes away from me, and when I asked if he knew where I was, he squiggled away into telling me how legit he was and the call was being monitored by FBI and Homeland Security.

I told him I don't pay taxes at WalMart, I would not give money before I got the prize and if he was legit he would give me the money and paying taxes would be left up to me. He argued as well, and I finally just hung up. Don't even spend that much time listening to this drivel. PCH doesn't call you before delivering a prize!! I suppose that there is an idiot born every day. I received this email and I know PCH don't use yahoo email.

Plus I don't participate with their games. I too got this same call today, and it was from a guy that barley spoke English. I just received one of those emails, I think. Could you tell me if this reply address is from Publishers Clearing House? I have the email and I will save it for you! They sent an email from publishersdept foxmail.

Is this correct? Thanks, Anonymous. You can usually find contact information for a business on its website. Look up the website that you know is the official website, and then look for a button or link on the website that says "Contact Us" or something similar.

I got a message from a friend that said she got a grant from PCH. And she gave me a phone number for me to apply. Stupidly I sent them all my info. My address, my phone number, my email address my place of employment and now I'm worried to death that I made a big mistake.

Same here, a friend text me on Facebook, saying that I was on the list of the winners and he gave me a number in Philadelphia US to call. He claims she is in the UK travelling around handing out cheques. I asked my friend on FB how we knew each other and she wouldn't answer me Kept giving me the agent name and saying just never mind if I don't want the money , but saying I'd thank her later if i just try it Thank you.

I'm also going through this right now from a person who messaged me on FB who said she saw my name on the list and have gotten messages from Michael Smith as well looked it up on FB and of course said personal blog Learned my lesson. His name was William Smith on Facebook. So be careful. Never send money to collect a prize, sweepstakes check, or lottery winnings. My name Dorthy I been with clearing publishers for 26years they promised me a loyalty check for the years never received it they stopped sending mail everything what can I do about it they even told me the attorney general in Washington DC stop the packages from coming.

I just got a cal from Todd Solon who told me I won , Praise claim with Pkg code US. They were to call me back in 5 minutes. They asked my. How Do You Feel? I said skeptical. This happened 3 hours ago. He also said he could have UPS meet me at home, work, or the bank to give me the prize.