Everyone is familiar with the Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes from television commercials where the winners are shown being surprised by the delivery of their giant check.  Publishers Clearing House is a legitimate company and operates a legitimate lottery, however scammers posing as employees of Publishers Clearing House are scamming people out of money through a variety of scams.  We can expect to see more of these phony Publishers Clearing House scams now that the real company has just announced a new “Win It All” contest that will be awarding its grand prize on June 30th.  The scams all have a similar theme.  You are required to pay something in order to claim your prize. Sometimes it is an administrative fee, sometimes it is taxes, but always you lose the money that you send to the phony contest scammers.

TIPS

Legitimate contest sponsors will not require you to pay administrative fees to claim your prize and even though your winnings are subject to taxes, the contest sponsor will either deduct the taxes before providing you with the prize or you will be responsible for paying the taxes on your own.  The contest sponsor never collects taxes for the IRS.  In addition, no legitimate contest sponsor will ask you to wire money or send money by way of a Green Dot Money Card.  These are tip-offs that the contest is a scam.  Finally, in regard to the Publishers Clearing House, you will not be notified by email, text message or phone call of your winning the contest.  Just as in the commercials, they will just show up on your doorstep.