Bellingham police warn of phone scam

If it sounds too good to be true, chances are it’s a scam

BELLINGHAM — Win $7,000 a week for life!

That’s the alluring catch-phrase the Publishing Clearing House, a direct marketing company, uses to get people to enter their name in its sweepstakes and prized-based games.

Earlier this week, a Bellingham man says he was contacted and told he had won the second prize in the sweepstakes. But there was only one problem – he never entered the contest.

It was a scam and one that plays on our desire to “get rich quick.” And, all too often, it works, police say.

Here’s how the scam works: you receive a phone call, text message, email or even a letter in the mail claiming you’ve won millions of dollars or another high value prize through Publishers Clearing House. The correspondence or call seems legitimate. It’s complete with official seals and contact information for the contest organizer.

The catch? You are responsible for paying shipping and handling, insurance, taxes and other fees before you can claim your prize. Scammers may pressure you to pay quickly and using alternative payment methods, claiming that if the fees aren’t paid in this specific way and right on time, you’ll forfeit your prize money.

A few thousand dollars may not sound like much compared to the millions you’ve just won. However, con artists keep asking you, the “lucky winner,” to pay again and again. But it’s never enough to get the funds transferred. Of course, in the end, your prize money never existed. Bellingham police say this is a scam they’ve never encountered in town before.

According police reports, a town resident was told that he needed to provide his license number and pay a processing fee. He was instructed to go to the post office to get a postal money order in the amount of $485 and send it overnight priority mail to a woman living in an apartment building in New Jersey.

“He did not fall for the scam and wanted others to be aware of this new scam to our area,” police said in a statement Friday.

The real Publishers Clearing House is a BBB Accredited Business with a good rating, and it never asks people to pay upfront fees for anything. Publishers Clearing House was founded in 1953 by Harold Mertz to replace door-todoor magazine subscription sales by a single vendor offering multiple subscriptions by mail. It introduced its sweepstakes in 1967.

Authorities say the company is frequently mimicked by scammers because of its reputation for real prizes. Like most imposter scams, the con artists steal the good name of a legitimate company in order to fool their targets.

In a related matter, Bellingham police are reminding residents that an IRS scam is still active.

“The IRS will not call you by phone if there is an issue and the IRS or the police will not come and arrest you,” the department said. “We continue to receive the calls on our PD lines as well so most likely residents are still getting them.”

Police say another scam that seems to pop up around the holidays is a call from a loved one requesting bail money or money for a hospital visit as they have been arrested or involved in an accident. This usually involves getting gift cards from popular stores or a money exchange business.

Also, if you get a blue screen warning on your computer that it has been infected, followed by a phone call from someone telling you the same, police say it is most likely a scam. The scammers will ask for personal information to further victimize you and also give you an option of some type of payment process (gift cards or money orders) for them to fix the issue. Police say you should simply hang up and shut down your computer. The majority of the time when you turn your computer back on it will be fine.

“Beware that scammers are always trying to adapt and tweak these scams,” the department said. “We are hearing this year that iTunes cards are a popular payment scheme for scammers but beware of others. If you scratch off the back of the card and give the number over the phone or send the picture of the numbers, your money is gone. They do not need the card. All they need is the number to get your money.”