Home » Business » Publishers Clearing House Scam

Publishers Clearing House Scam

scam fraud

Sedona AZ (June 19, 2015) – A 77-year-old Chino Valley resident called the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office on June 15, 2015, to report a fraud. The man told YCSO deputies that on Thursday, June 11, 2015, he received a cell phone call from a number with an 876 area code. This area code identifies the country of Jamaica, home base for suspects who victimize thousands each year.

The suspect/caller told the Chino Valley man he won a Publisher’s Clearing House award, but needed to send $3500 in processing fees to claim his prize. The victim went to a local community bank, obtained a cashier’s check in the requested amount and sent it to an address in Wisconsin as directed. He later realized he had been scammed.

scam fraud logo

YCSO contacted the local police department in the Wisconsin community where the house is located and advised that scam proceeds were being sent to this particular address. Wisconsin police officers agreed to investigate after a completed YCSO report is received.

Again, any unsolicited calls from an 876 number will likely involve a scam. Also, you are NEVER required to pay money up front if you have won a prize in a legitimate sweepstakes.

YCSO will continue to issue fraud alerts like this in the hope we can stop this activity in its tracks. We have had calls from residents recently who avoided being scammed because of knowledge about the techniques read in media reports.

In most cases these scams target our senior population and many were simply not aware of the activity. YCSO encourages those who have older family and friends to share these scam alerts with the targeted group.

A great resource guide is available from YCSO – go to www.ycsoaz.gov and under the News and Events section find a link to the “Little Book of Scams.” Review the guide online and download to print and share with others.

With your help we can prevent further victims from being scammed. Also remember to check out the Internet Crime Complaint Center hosted by the FBI. Victims can report activity and stay up to date on the latest scams – see http://www.ic3.gov/media/default.aspx.

Citizens can contact the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office with information or questions at 928-771-3260 or the YCSO website.

Read www.SedonaEye.com for daily news and interactive views!

Read www.SedonaEye.com for daily news and interactive views!

1 Comment

  1. Received an authentic looking email with the note that my PayPal had been temporarily suspended !!! DO NOT CLICK ON IT AND ENTER YOUR INFO. IT’S A SCAM !!! IT’S TRYING TO GET YOUR INFO !!!

    PayPal
    View your recent activity .
    Dear %email%,
    We need your help resolving an issue with your account. To give us time to work together on this, we’ve temporarily limited what you can do with your account until the issue is resolved.
    We understand it may be frustrating not to have full access to your PayPal account. We want to work with you to get your account back to normal as quickly as possible.
    What’s the problem?

    We need a little bit more information about you to help confirm your
    identity.

Leave a Reply

Copyright © 2008-2017 · Sedona Eye · All Rights Reserved · Posts · Comments · Facebook · Twitter ·