Con artists putting new spin on old phone scam

A Southern Colorado woman wants to warn others about a new twist being applied to an old scam.

A woman who we will call “Joy” was contacted at her home near Caon City Tuesday by a fake contest official who identified himself as being an agent for Publisher’s Clearing House (PCH).

The man provided a “badge number”, and informed Joy that she had just won $750,000, along with a new Mercedes Benz.

Joy says that even though she plays the popular sweepstakes, she knew the whole thing sounded too good to be true.

Her suspicions were confirmed when the man asked her to pay an up-front tax payment on her winnings, asking her to wire $295.00 to a Western Union account.

After hanging up on the man, Joy called the real Publisher’s Clearing House, who confirmed it was a scam.

“[PCH] told me that they never contact anyone by phone to hand out prizes,” says Joy. She said that PCH took down the information to forward to the Federal Trade Commission.

Have you had a similar phone encounter? You are encouraged to report it directly to the Federal trade Commission, the agency tasked with monitoring wire fraud.

You can reach them at 1-877-FTC-HELP, or click here to file a report online.