Publishers Clearing House Doesn't Call Winners Asking for Fees

"Congratulations! You've been selected as the winner of our $1,000,000 sweepstakes! To claim your prize, contact our claims agent immediately." You didn't enter a sweepstakes. But a million dollars is a million dollars, right? Maybe you were randomly selected.

You weren't. Hundreds of these exact messages hit our scam database every day. If you have to pay money to receive a prize, it's not a prize. It's theft.

Prize and lottery scams are among the oldest cons in existence, and they've made the transition to digital seamlessly. They arrive by email, text, phone call, social media message, and even physical mail. The format changes, but the mechanics never do. You "won" something, and now you need to pay a fee to get it.

The Fake Prize Playbook

You're told you've won a prize in predictable formats that we track daily. Email messages claim you won the "Microsoft Global Lottery" or "Google Anniversary Promotion." Text messages announce a $5,000 Walmart gift card waiting for you. Phone calls from fake Publishers Clearing House agents congratulate you on winning the grand prize. Social media messages from verified-looking accounts or hacked friends' accounts say you've been chosen for a giveaway.

The amounts range from $500 gift cards to multi-million dollar "international lotteries." The bigger scams use bigger numbers.

Before you can receive your winnings, you need to pay a "processing fee" of $50 to $500. Or "tax withholding," often 10% of the supposed prize amount. Maybe "insurance and shipping" to deliver the prize to you. For "international" prizes, there's always a "customs clearance" fee.

The payment method is always untraceable. Wire transfer, gift cards, cryptocurrency, or money order. They never offer to deduct the fee from your winnings because there are no winnings.

If you pay the first fee, you'll be asked for more. The "taxes" weren't enough, now there's a "legal clearance fee." Then an "anti-money-laundering verification fee." Each payment is smaller than the promised prize, so victims keep paying, thinking they're almost there. Complaint data shows cases where victims paid tens of thousands of dollars in accumulated fees before realizing there was never a prize.

Some prize scams skip the fee and go straight for your personal information. "To process your winnings, we need your full name, address, date of birth, and Social Security number for tax reporting." Now they have everything they need for identity theft.

You cannot win a contest you didn't enter. There is no such thing as a random selection from "all phone numbers" or "all email addresses." Legitimate sweepstakes require an entry. By federal law, you cannot be required to pay to receive a prize in the United States. If someone asks you to pay to collect winnings, it's illegal, and it's a scam.

Messages about winning a UK, Australian, Canadian, or European lottery are always scams. It's illegal to participate in foreign lotteries from the United States. No legitimate organization pays winners through gift cards or asks for fees via Western Union, MoneyGram, or cryptocurrency.

Official lottery notifications don't come from Gmail, Yahoo, or Outlook addresses. But even a professional-looking domain doesn't make it real. Scammers register official-sounding domains just for these cons. They pressure you to keep it secret. "Don't tell anyone about your winnings until the claim is processed." This prevents you from talking to someone who would immediately recognize the scam.

Many prize scam emails use odd capitalization, excessive exclamation marks, and awkward phrasing. Legitimate corporations proofread their communications.

Publishers Clearing House is the most commonly spoofed sweepstakes brand in our system. Real PCH winners are notified in person at their door, not by email, text, or phone call. PCH never asks winners to pay fees. Mega Millions and Powerball scams claim you won without buying a ticket. You can only win if you bought a ticket from an authorized retailer. There is no email notification system.

Microsoft, Google, and Apple don't run email lotteries. Any email claiming to be a "Microsoft Global Lottery" is fake. Fake gift card giveaways use Walmart, Amazon, and Target brands constantly. Verify any promotion on the retailer's official website.

Don't respond, click links, or call any numbers in the message. Search the phone number, email address, or domain at the top of this page. Our database likely has complaints about it already. Delete the message.

If you paid money, act fast. For gift cards, contact the gift card issuer with the card numbers and report the fraud. Recovery is rare but worth attempting. For wire transfers, contact Western Union or MoneyGram to report the fraud. File a complaint at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. For bank transfers, contact your bank immediately to attempt a reversal. For cryptocurrency, file a report with the FBI's IC3 at ic3.gov. Crypto transactions are generally irreversible.

If you gave personal information, freeze your credit at all three bureaus. File an identity theft report at IdentityTheft.gov. Monitor your bank accounts for unauthorized activity.

Prize scams disproportionately target older adults. The FTC reports that people over 60 lose more money to prize and lottery scams than any other age group, with median losses significantly higher than younger victims. If you have an older family member who mentions "winning" something, have that conversation now. They may be embarrassed to bring it up on their own.

Report every fake prize notification you receive. File reports with the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, the FBI IC3 at ic3.gov if you lost money, the USPS Postal Inspection Service at uspis.gov for mail-based scams, and your state Attorney General. Every report helps law enforcement identify and shut down these operations. The more complaints we collect against a specific phone number or email, the faster enforcement can act.