Lottery & Prize Fraud

Why every "You won the Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes!" call is a scam — and how to recognize the playbook.

How the Scam Works

A phone call, letter, email, or text arrives with thrilling news: "Congratulations! You've won $5.7 million in the Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes! You've won the Mega Millions International Lottery! You've won a luxury car!" There's just one small catch: before they can release the winnings, you need to pay a small fee for taxes, processing, customs duties, insurance, or a "release bond."

This is advance-fee fraud, also known as the "419 scam" after the section of the Nigerian criminal code that criminalizes it. The "winning" is fake. Every payment victims send to "release" the prize gets pocketed by the scammers. As victims comply, the demands grow: "Sorry, we need another $2,000 for federal taxes," "There's a $5,000 customs fee," "The bank needs a $10,000 deposit to release your check." The prize never arrives, because it never existed.

Two key tells: real lotteries do not require winners to pay anything upfront (taxes are withheld from the prize itself), and you cannot win a sweepstakes you never entered. If you don't remember entering, you didn't.

Variations include:

•Fake Publishers Clearing House calls (real PCH never asks for fees and visits winners in person)
•"Foreign lottery winnings" from Spain, Jamaica, Canada, or Australia — all illegal for US residents to play anyway
•"Inheritance scams" from a long-lost relative or wealthy stranger
•"Mystery shopper" or "secret shopper" jobs that send you a fake check to deposit and "test"
•"You won a car/cruise/vacation!" — usually a timeshare presentation scam

Real-World Example

🎟️ Real Case

An 84-year-old retired schoolteacher in Maine received a call telling her she had won $2.8 million in the "Reader's Digest Sweepstakes" and a new Mercedes-Benz. To release the prize, she needed to pay $1,200 for "federal taxes." Over the next two years, she sent $73,000 in cashier's checks, gift cards, and wire transfers — each one supposedly the "final fee" to get the prize. Her daughter discovered the scam only when she noticed her mother had stopped paying her utility bills. The prize never came; her retirement savings were gone.

Warning Signs

•You "won" a contest you never entered.
•You're asked to pay any fee, tax, or insurance to receive a prize.
•The "lottery" is foreign (it's illegal for US residents to play foreign lotteries by mail or phone).
•Payment requested in gift cards, wire transfer, money order, or crypto.
•Pressure to keep your "winnings" secret.
•The "official" check arrives first — you're told to deposit it and wire back a portion. (The check is fake; you'll owe the bank everything.)
•Urgent deadlines — "claim your prize within 48 hours or lose it."
•The fees keep coming. Each "small" fee is followed by a new one.

How to Protect Yourself

✓Remember the rule: real prizes never require an upfront payment.
✓If you didn't enter, you didn't win. No one randomly selects strangers to give millions to.
✓Real Publishers Clearing House notifies in person for prizes over $10,000 — never by phone or email asking for money. PCH fraud info.
✓Never deposit a check from a "sweepstakes." If asked to wire any of it back, the entire check will bounce and you'll owe the full amount.
✓Hang up on prize calls. Don't "test" the caller, don't ask details, don't engage.
✓Tell a family member or friend about any prize call. They can spot the scam.
✓Register at donotcall.gov to reduce these calls. Phone: 1-888-382-1222.
✓Report lottery and prize fraud to ReportFraud.ftc.gov and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service at uspis.gov.

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