It happens all the time and you could be next. If you have received a call about a prize for a contest you never entered chances are it might be a scam. The Federal Trade Commission has been hearing about scammers calling to say you’ve won a boatload of money from Publishers Clearing House through a multi-state lottery.
They tell you to call a number and press 1 to learn more. If you don’t, you supposedly won’t get the money. What would you do?
If you press 1, they’ll tell you some version of this fictional story: you won several million dollars (you didn’t), the winnings are at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York , and you need to pay a fee to get your money. No matter what version of the story you hear: it’s a scam.
Here are some things to know to avoid this and other prize scams:
Real prizes are free. If there’s a charge, it’s a scam.
Scammers tell you to act NOW.
Scammers use names that look like the real thing.
But no real sweepstakes company will demand money for a prize. If you think it might be a prize scam tell the FTC at Report Fraud dot ftc . gov and call the police
