I received a call that my caller ID identified as an "Out of Area" caller. It was a man claiming to be Peter Thomas from US Sweepstakes Direct and he later gave his phone number as 213.784.2096, ext 625. He claimed that I was the second place winner and had won $287,000 in the Publisher's Clearing House sweepstakes. My award packet had allegedly been sent to me several weeks ago but I had no responded to let PCH know what I wanted to do with my prize. Since, according to him, PCH cannot call prize winners, they turned over my details to US Sweepstakes Direct and that's why he was calling me.
He then said that according to his computer, PCH was going to have someone deliver my check tomorrow morning between 11-12:00 and that I needed to have a picture ID as well as a receipt for my 1% refundable insurance payment. When I questioned this, he gave me the following two numbers so I could call PCH directly to get more details from them: 866.978.7542 and 516.874.0926.
I called the toll free number and someone with the same thick African accent answered. It sounded like they were in an apartment flat in a large city and had the windows open in the background. He had someone else with a similar accent took over. This guy also tried to get me to use their specific registered and bonded attorney to pay the 1% insurance fee required of large tax-free winnings in our post 9-11 world. He assured me, though, that it was refundable and that I would get it back from PCH. He said it was critical that we do it over the phone right away since they were scheduled to show up to deliver it tomorrow morning. This guy, though, said that a representative from PCH would be here and he also said that it would be delivered between 10-11:00 tomorrow. The horns honking in the background were a nice touch. He also gave me 202.407.7233 as the phone number for the Better Business Bureau in Washington, DC. I guess he wanted it to sound more legitimate and if I called the BBB to check on PCH's standing, it would only give these guys more credibility.
As an aside, the Federal Trade Commission says that you don't have to pay to collect legitimate winnings:
http://www.ftc. Gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt167. Shtm
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