You May Not Be a Winner: Sweepstakes Scam Empties Woman’s Savings

The Perfect Scam

AARP

True Crime, Aarp, Fraud, Society & Culture, Scam, Crime, Bobsullivan

4.5 • 980 Ratings

🗓️ 13 September 2024

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes is famous for showing up at winners’ homes with a giant check and transforming lives. So when Kathy receives a call from someone claiming to be from Publishers Clearing House, saying that she’s the next lucky winner, she begins dreaming of all the good she can do for her friends and family. However, after several months of empty promises and tens of thousands of dollars in “taxes” that she must pay upfront, a concerned neighbor convinces Kathy to go to the police.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This week on the perfect scam.
0:03.4	Oh my God, you kidding me?
0:06.0	I won this grand prize of 3.5 million dollars, a new Mercedes, and
0:11.8	$7,000 for life.
0:14.0	So he sent you this document and did you have to sign anything?
0:18.0	Oh yeah, I had to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
0:22.0	Oh, what was that for?
0:24.0	So I couldn't talk.
0:25.0	You know how it was for me to keep this thing a secret for months?
0:30.0	I couldn't tell anyone.
0:31.0	I didn't tell my daughter.
0:35.0	Welcome back to the perfect scam. I'm your host Bob Sullivan.
0:42.0	Everybody dreams of winning a big prize, a stuffed bear at a carnival,
0:47.0	a 50-50 drawing, a state lottery. But there is one sweepstakes contest that has captured America's attention since the 1960s,
0:55.8	Publishers Clearinghouse.
0:57.8	You know, they show up at winter's homes with a big check and make a TV commercial out of it,
1:02.3	the stuff dreams are made out of.
1:04.0	Well, all that name recognition and all those dreams
1:08.0	create an opportunity for criminals.
1:11.0	Sweepstakes scams are common enough, but when criminals drop the name publishers'
1:15.6	clearinghouse, it brings their story an air of credibility.
1:19.6	In the same way, criminals working on the tech support scam say they're from Microsoft or
	...

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