I POSTED THESE REPORTS TO HELP STOP SCAMS AND FRAUD. I WAS CALLED ON PHONE THAT I WON THIS MONEY AND NEW CAR AND I GOT 4 SUCH CALLS FROM THIS PERSON 4 TIMES UNTIL I CONFORTED HIM AND TOLD HIM I KNEW HE WAS FRAUD AND IF HE WAS HONEST FORGIVE ME AND GIVE THE MONEY TO THE POOR AND THE CAR TO AN OLD PERSON WHO NEEDED IT. PLEASE HELP STOP FRAUD. PCH is Fighting Back Against Fraud! Since its inception, the hallmark of the Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes has been that no purchase, fee, cost or payment is ever necessary to enter or win. This message appears repeatedly in our mailings in many forms, is present in our web site disclosures, and is featured for all those who call our toll-free customer service line. Publishers Clearing House has received reports from consumers and consumer protection authorities of illegal and fraudulent offers by scam artists using the phone, mail or internet seeking some form of payment from consumers to collect a non-existent prize. In many cases the Publishers Clearing House name or sound-alike name is illegally used. Using a variety of bogus representations including “prepayment of taxes,” “refundable deposits,” and “shipping & handling,” scam artists perpetrating these frauds seek to have consumers forward money. As the industry leader in legitimate sweepstakes promotions and offers, Publishers Clearing House is greatly concerned about the reports of these scams. In response, the PCH Consumer Affairs Division has instituted a comprehensive program to help combat these scams. Our program has three components: Consumer Education, Information Sharing and Private/Public Partnerships. Consumer Information On the belief that educated consumers are in the best position to stop fraud, Publishers Clearing House has undertaken a number of consumer education programs that are designed to reach those who might be targeted by fraudulent sweepstakes scam artists. These efforts include: Toll-Free Consumer Education: Every year hundreds of thousands of consumers call the Publishers Clearing House toll-free customer service line. These calls provide an invaluable opportunity to provide an educational message to consumers. Each call received by Publishers Clearing House is answered by a recorded greeting that includes a reminder that the “winning is always free.” For those who would like to hear more, a prompt is provided that offers callers additional educational information and warnings regarding bogus offers that may request payment to claim a prize. These recorded messages have been particularly valuable after business hours when consumers who were prepared to forward money in response to a scam contact were able to hear the warnings. Mailing Inserts: The mail delivered to the homes of consumers by Publishers Clearing House also provides a valuable opportunity for consumer education. PCH has used this platform to include a variety of educational messages in outgoing mail. For example, tens of thousands of educational flyers produced in conjunction with the Federal Trade Commission’s Partnership for Consumer Education have been distributed. Each flyer carried the theme that “The Best Things in Life Are Free” and that “You Never Have to Pay to Play.” More recently, consumers who are our most active customers have been sent a stand-alone letter that reminds them that a purchase is never necessary to enter a sweepstakes and win. Publishers Clearing House Website: The immediacy afforded by internet communication, has allowed Publishers Clearing House to quickly post consumer warnings and educational messages in response to current issues. In 2008, for example, we started to receive reports from consumers alerting us about a scam that requested money and illegally used our name and that of Oprah Winfrey’s magazine. In response we were able to quickly post a warning to consumers indicating that this offer was completely bogus and had no connection with the real Publishers Clearing House or O Magazine. Media/Community Outreach: Publishers Clearing House regularly attempts to educate consumers through radio, television and newspaper interviews and by appearances at community and consumer gatherings. At your request, we will gladly work to arrange a visit by a representative to your local community organization or senior citizen center to talk about sweepstakes and consumer protection. For details contact PCH’s Consumer Affairs Division at pchconsumeraffairs@pchThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 17:34:55 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015