The “Publisher’s Clearing House” scam is hurting many of our Douglas County citizens. This scam tricks the victim into thinking they won the clearing house lottery. The scammer contacts the victim by phone call, text, or email, saying the victim has won a large sum of money. The victim, typically, gets caught up in the emotions of winning the lottery they don’t even think if they entered to win. The scammer then tells the victim that they must send money to pay for the “taxes” or “processing fees.” The “taxes” or “fees” are thousands of dollars, according to the scammer. The scammer says they can pay by wiring money, cashier’s check, gift cards, Venmo, or PayPal. They typically end the conversation with asking the victim to keep it a secret because the winnings are intended to be a “surprise.”
There are many warning signs that victims miss during this conversation, probably because of the excitement of winning millions of dollars.
- If you did not enter to win, you can’t win. Obviously, you can only win if you play.
- The other signs are paying the taxes/fees before receiving the money. Never give money to get money, a huge sign this is a scam.
- If they tell you there are multiple ways to pay the taxes/fees to include gift cards, Venmo, or PayPal, it should be a warning sign of a scam. Never pay in gift cards, those are for gifts and only gifts not paying bills/taxes/fees. Venmo and PayPal, once you give the money away it is gone and no way to reclaim it.
- NEVER KEEP ANYTHING A SECRET when it comes to strangers or companies. This is the biggest “red flag” that indicates it is a scam. They tell you a reason- it is intended to be a surprise, when it is to stop others from warning you of the illegal activity they are doing. DO NOT KEEP IT A SECRET, share with everyone you know. Hopefully, one or more will make you realize this is too good to be true and you will lose a lot of money if you go along with it.
All these red flags or signs are typically missed because of the emotions. This is one of the main tactic’s scammers use because it works! Get the victim emotionally involved and they will be blinded. The emotion of excitement for this scam, fear for the grandchild scam, nervousness for the warrant scam, all the same tactic- to blind you of the signs. To break away from the emotion, slow down and take a deep breath. Nothing is a rush! YOU HAVE TIME.
After reading this, if you get notified of a “Publisher’s Clearing House” win, SLOW DOWN, talk to others, review the comments/email as if you are your own detective, and FIND ANOTHER WAY TO CONTACT THEM.