County Scam: Caller Claims To Be Publisher's Clearing House, Asks For VISA Gift Card

Darren Doyle, story:
An Edmonson County resident, who wished to remain anonymous in order to protect the identity of her 86 year-old mother, called the Edmonson Voice and shared her story about intervening during a recent scam call.

The resident said she entered the home of her elderly mother and saw she was on the phone. She said her mother was so excited because she had apparently won a Publisher's Clearing House sweepstakes. The resident thought something sounded fishy so she took the phone from her mother and joined the call.

"He said his name was John Cooper from Publisher's Clearing House and mom had won $7,000 a month, a Mercedes, and a year's worth of insurance from Allstate. He gave a badge number and everything. He was very convincing and well spoken. He spoke with a foreign accent but very good English," she said.

"He told my mom she needed to go to the nearest Dollar Store and buy a VISA gift card and put $505 on it. She just needed to buy it first, then give the numbers to him over the phone. He even told her he'd stay on the phone with her while she went to get it. I asked him what was this for, and he said it was for attorney and estate fees. He said once he had the gift card, he'd send the prize team out to her house and they would deliver all the prizes."

The resident said she knew it was a scam and hung up. She said she contacted the real Publisher's Clearing House and reported the incident; not only that, but she was able get the real PCH on the line when the scammer called back on her mother's phone, where the real PCH called "John" out and confronted him as the scammer."

All is well that ends well, because the elderly lady was not scammed, but it's likely she would have, had her daughter not intervened.

"I just want people to know that this stuff goes on right in our own county and our elderly are being preyed upon," she said. "Please, tell your relatives not to fall for this stuff. It's not right."

She said the incident was also reported to the Sheriff's Office, but that it's nearly impossible for the guilty parties to be caught in situations like this.

"These people are very slick at what they do," said Sheriff Shane Doyle. "Unfortunately, they are usually based outside of the U.S. and are able to use a U.S. phone number, sometimes even a local phone number. As always, if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is, and NEVER give any bank or financial information to anyone over the phone or internet. Certainly, never trade gift cards for anything like this."