Publishers Clearing House issues warning about scammers after Shaler man wins $1 million prize

Dreamers beware.

That’s the message from a national sweepstakes company that awarded a $1 million prize to a Shaler man this week.

The warning comes from Publishers Clearing House officials in response to a letter forwarded to the company by the Tribune-Review on behalf of a California man who thought it was suspicious.

The letter, which appears to be on FBI letterhead, was sent to California resident Eliseo Valdez, who forwarded it to the Trib after reading about the Shaler prize award online.

The letter attempts to assure Valdez that he is the winner of a $1 million prize and states:

“The FBI confirm the screening and verification concerning your Publisher Clearing House random winning of USD $1,000,000.00 finding shows that the source is genuine and legitimate.

“To this effect, the Federal Bureau of Investigation expect your total cooperation to all the directives and protocol which is lay down (sic) policy to be carried out by the lucky winners so as to facilitate the immediate release of your winnings to the beneficiary.”

Dave Sayer, the sweepstakes company’s executive director and a member of the Prize Patrol team that traveled to Pittsburgh on Wednesday, said in addition to the grammatical errors, simply examining the letter reveals it to be a fake.

“Note they don’t even have J. Edgar Hoover’s name spelled correctly, and another person’s signature — that of a retired Publishers Clearing House employee — is above my name,” he wrote in an email. “This is totally illegitimate.”

When Sayer and his team awarded a $1 million prize in Shaler, the winner was not previously notified. After surprising Lou Isabella with the announcement at his home, company officials presented him with a $25,000 advance on his winnings and had him sign the documents needed to collect the remainder of his prize.

Except in rare cases, the company’s policy is to present prizes in-person.

If a winner isn’t home, the Prize Patrol waits — the team was at the Shaler home for half an hour before the owner answered. They were in no hurry to leave if he didn’t.

If that fails, the team will ask neighbors where to find the winner or go to their place of employment.

“Our job is to find you so we can give you the prize in person,” Sayer said. “I’ve been doing this 30 years. We always find you.”

Chris Irving, the company’s vice president for consumer affairs, said the company provides detailed information on how people entering sweepstakes can avoid being scammed.

But one rule to follow stands above all, he said.

“We takes these matters, where our good name and reputation is being used, very seriously and it causes us great concern for the consumers who are victimized,” he said. “The one simple rule consumers need to remember that would prevent being victimized by a sweepstakes scam is that at Publishers Clearing House, or any legitimate sweepstakes, no purchase, payment, order, tax or fee of any kind is ever necessary to collect a real prize.

“If someone tells you that you have won a prize but that you have to send money for any reason, hang up the phone, rip up the letter or delete the email,” he said.