# Publishers clearing house--scam? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 24, 2023, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/publishers-clearing-house-scam/980284 "2023-02-24T08:17:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/publishers-clearing-house-scam/980284/1 "2023-02-24T08:17:56Z")
I know Cecil addressed this back in 1984, but the question remains–has there been any evidence that people have won sweepstakes without getting subscription? I can see PCH not wanting this to be known since it would destroy business model (and profits) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/publishers-clearing-house-scam/980284/2 "2023-02-24T08:46:22Z")
No it is not a scam. You don’t need to purchase anything to win. The only scams are people claiming to be PCH but aren’t. Maybe you don’t realize that PCH would be violating the law in every state if they advertise that no purchase is necessary and even a single penny is required to be eligible. [A website](https://www.kare11.com/article/news/verify/publishers-clearing-house-verify/89-ab4eff90-ce78-400e-b433-edfd0ea12d15) [Another website](https://www.liveabout.com/are-publishers-clearing-house-sweepstakes-scams-886968) It’s easy to find proof that it is not a scam. [An article on how to avoid a scam under the PCH name which is also more proof that no purchase is necessary to win.](https://miamitownship.com/DocumentCenter/View/1535/Publishers-Clearing-House-scam-022219?bidId=) ---
**Author:** ![Eric1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3bc359/32.png) [@Eric1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eric1)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/publishers-clearing-house-scam/980284/3 "2023-02-24T10:10:22Z")
I have no cite but regularly read about scams in publications. The three tip offs I’ve read for Publishers Clearing House were these. If the internet come-on has a url that’s not from the right source company/country, it’s a scam. If someone calls you to claim you have won a prize and you have not mailed an entry, it’s again a scam. Lastly if they say you have to send them money to claim a prize it, it’s a scam. There may be other tipoffs but these are the extent of what I’ve read. Personally I’ve been approached three times in my days by conmen pretending to be from Publishers Clearing House. In these conversations one of the reasons above tipped me off. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/publishers-clearing-house-scam/980284/4 "2023-02-24T13:59:06Z")
What I’m wondering is what Publishers Clearing House is selling nowadays. Obviously decades ago, the product was magazine subscriptions; presumably they receive commissions. But now with the dying magazine business? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/publishers-clearing-house-scam/980284/5 "2023-02-24T14:42:20Z")
I know this is a kinda nitpicky, but there’s a difference between: > [@fedman1](#): > > has there been any evidence that people have won sweepstakes without getting subscription? . and . > [@TriPolar](#): > > PCH would be violating the law in every state if they advertise that no purchase is necessary and even a single penny is required to be eligible. OP asked if anyone has ever _won_ the sweepstakes without getting a subscription, but your answered was only about eligibility. While it should be easy PCH to know if anyone that entered without having a subscription has ever won, just because they haven’t doesn’t mean it’s a scam. It’s more likely that such a small percentage of entries were made without purchases that the odds are overwhelmingly in favor of the group that became eligible due to a purchase\*. To clarify, I’m talking about the group of people that entered without a purchase vs the group that entered with one, not specific individuals. \*I have no idea what the ratio of the two groups is, I’m just assuming there aren’t very many ‘no purchase required’ entrants. And that goes for most of these types of things. How many people actually mailed McDonalds to get some Monopoly pieces? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/publishers-clearing-house-scam/980284/6 "2023-02-24T14:55:54Z")
Not technically a scam, but all kinds of deceptive. The widespread belief that you could only win if you subscribed was a feature not a bug. Yeah, the fine print says no purchase was necessary, but could you _really_ be sure? Better get that sub for _Ferret Fancy_ just to be certain you _really_ had a chance at that million dollars. And then there were those letters that say right on the outside that you have already won…until you happen to read the tiny “if you have been chosen” hidden beneath the envelope window. A horribly exploitive company taking advantage of American optimism and inattention to detail. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/publishers-clearing-house-scam/980284/7 "2023-02-24T15:02:29Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > But now with the dying magazine business? Now it’s game apps and search engines. “Play and win!” “Search and win!”, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/publishers-clearing-house-scam/980284/8 "2023-02-24T15:19:24Z")
The Wikipedia article on the company says they were sued multiple times by state attorneys general for the deceptive practices (like “Guaranteed Winner” on the outside of the envelope). ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/publishers-clearing-house-scam/980284/9 "2023-02-24T16:13:09Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > What I’m wondering is what Publishers Clearing House is selling nowadays. Obviously decades ago, the product was magazine subscriptions; presumably they receive commissions. But now with the dying magazine business? Subscriptions; but also all kinds of miscellaneous stuff, from flashlights to jar openers to almost anything else you can think of; all priced in a confusing fashion that makes it hard to tell that you’ll probably wind up paying $27 for something you could pick up for $19 at your local hardware store or drugstore (it’s all priced along the lines of ‘4 payments of only 4.99 plus shipping!’ with the shipping cost unclear.) ETA: I send them in, but on the basis on which rational people buy lottery tickets: for the price of a stamp it’s fun to dream that I’ll win the thing, but I know perfectly well that the fine print says the odds are something like 1 in 11 billion so I ain’t gonna. I’ve never bought anything; once in a while there is something that I might have bought if I could figure out what it was actually going to cost me. – I haven’t had one in a while; they keep trying to get me to go online and presumably give them my email, which I don’t want to. Maybe they’ve given up on ever getting anything out of me. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/publishers-clearing-house-scam/980284/10 "2023-02-24T22:34:01Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I have no idea what the ratio of the two groups is, I’m just assuming there aren’t very many ‘no purchase required’ entrants. And that goes for most of these types of things. How many people actually mailed McDonalds to get some Monopoly pieces? 40 years ago or so my wife had a hobby of entering contests. She won all kinds of stuff, and never bought anything. There was (and maybe still is for all I know) a whole subculture of people who do this, and they even had a newsletter listing contests. (This was pre-web.) I suspect the vast majority of entrants don’t buy anything. But the very fact that we all know the PCH name shows their strategy worked. ---
**Author:** ![Mrs\_Ducky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrs_ducky/32/6227_2.png) [@Mrs\_Ducky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs_Ducky)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2023, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/publishers-clearing-house-scam/980284/11 "2023-02-26T20:49:33Z")
I play their PCH Lotto games every day and I got a $5 check from them just after the first of the year. I laughed all the way to the bank and the teller in the drive through laughed at it, too! ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2023, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/publishers-clearing-house-scam/980284/12 "2023-02-27T20:46:06Z")
Is it possible to see what magazines and other things they are offering without first registering? ---
**Author:** ![Mrs\_Ducky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrs_ducky/32/6227_2.png) [@Mrs\_Ducky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs_Ducky)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2023, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/publishers-clearing-house-scam/980284/13 "2023-02-28T15:36:51Z")
And I just got another $5 check in the mail yesterday. Woo Hoo!!! ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2023, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/publishers-clearing-house-scam/980284/14 "2023-02-28T17:23:32Z")
The discussion always makes me think of this: [![](https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7190/7040559135_a88b0507ab_o.jpg) ](https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7190/7040559135_a88b0507ab_o.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2023, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/publishers-clearing-house-scam/980284/15 "2023-02-28T17:43:31Z")
I play both the “regular” PCH and PCH Lotto games every day. I won $50 from them once, and I’ve won several $5 and $10 prizes. I’ve never bought anything from them. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2023, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/publishers-clearing-house-scam/980284/16 "2023-02-28T17:52:07Z")
Or maybe they’re a cigar. ---
**Author:** ![Mrs\_Ducky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrs_ducky/32/6227_2.png) [@Mrs\_Ducky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs_Ducky)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2023, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/publishers-clearing-house-scam/980284/17 "2023-02-28T18:36:26Z")
I’ve never bought anything either. They really try to guilt you into to it though.