Minnesota Warns Of Publishers Clearing House Posers
Scam artists posing as representatives of Publishers Clearing House are contacting people by phone and telling them they have won money in a sweepstakes but only can collect if they send a check for taxes, the Minnesota attorney general's office has warned.The state attorney general's office said it received approximately a dozen calls about the scam in one hour-and-a-half period last week. Publishers Clearing House does not contact winners by phone or require them to pay to collect their prizes.
The scam was aimed mostly at elderly consumers, the attorney general's office said. First, a caller would contact the consumer telling them they had won, and a short time later another caller claiming to be from the Internal Revenue Service would call again asking why a check for as much as $6,500 had not been sent.
