There Is Another Publishers Clearing House Scam Targeting Maine

A few days ago the Somerset County Sheriff's Department alerted us to a "Publishers Clearing House" scam targeting Mainers.

PCH, for those who are younger, is a company that started out selling magazine subscriptions door-to-door in the 1950s.  These days, though, they are more known for their large cash sweepstakes.

During the 1980s and 1990s, TV personality Ed McMahon would show up to the winner's doors to present them with a check.

While it is not as well known these days, it does still exist.  And, apparently, scammers have started to use it to their advantage.

Recently, someone in Central Maine got a very official looking letter from PCH that claimed they had won $850,000.  Enclosed in the letter was a check for about $7,800.  Supposedly, that check was to be used to pay for the taxes on prize.  However, the scammers ask that you send them the $7,800 while you wait for the fake check to clear.  In the end, the prize is not real and the check is fake, leaving the victim out $7,800.

Now, there is another version of the scam.  This time, instead of phishing through the mail, they phish through Facebook.

A few days ago, I got a message from a Facebook acquiatance.  Ya' know, someone who you are connected to on Facebook, but you never really interact with the person.  I am pretty sure I know this person from a club I used to DJ at years ago.

The conversation starts with him asking me how I am and telling me how good it is to talk to me.

Then, it goes from there

Of course, I KNEW it was a scam so I decided to play with the scammer for a bit.

In the end, the scammer (using a hacked account) sends me a link to click on.  I am supposed to fill out the information and someone will get ahold of me.

At this point, I was bored with the conversation and went back to work.  About an hour later, the scammer (still using the hacked account) reach back out to me to see if someone from PCH had reached out to me yet.

Clearly, if someone you rarely talk to on Facebook reaches out to you, you probably want to be a little bit skeptical at what they are telling you.  Be even more cautious if they are asking you to do something.