SAPULPA, Okla — Sherri Wolf started getting calls claiming she won the Publisher's Clearing House Sweepstakes.
She thought her life could change. She said the caller told her prizes included $126 million and a 2024 Mercedes Benz and then $162,000 a week.
The catch?
In order to collect her prizes she had to pay taxes.
"They got $100 from me because I fell for it," she said.
When he asked for her bank account information, she realized it was a scam.
"Then I called Publisher's Clearing House and they said the only thing they do - they do not call you - they do not write you a letter. they come straight to your house with flowers and balloons if you won."
Chris Irving is vice president for consumer and legal affairs with Publisher's Clearing House.
"We've gotten reports about scam artists contacting consumers by Facebook, by call, by personal outreach," Irving said. "These are not the real Publisher's Clearing House. We never contact the winners ahead of time to tell 'em they've won a prize."
Wolf also called the2 News Problem Solvers to warn others not to fall for the idea of quick riches.
"I thought 'yay' at first, " she said, "but I don't think 'yay' now!"
If you get a call, text, Facebook message or other communication about winning the Publisher's Clearing House Sweepstakes, or any other sweepstakes:
- Don't respond
- Block and delete the sender from your phone
- If you lose money, report it to your local police and alert your bank. You may need to close the account used to send money or if you provided them any banking information, to reduce further fraud activity
- Report Publisher's Clearing House scams to the PCH website
- Report all scams to the Federal Trade Commission
In 2023, The Federal Trade Commission reported consumers lost $2.7 billion to imposter scams— that's when someone claims to represent real companies to trick people into giving them money and information that can be used for identity theft.
Imposter scams were the top consumer reported fraud category in 2023 according to the FTC.
Contact the Problem Solvers:
- 918-748-1502
- problemsolvers@kjrh.com
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