RUSK COUNTY, Texas — For decades now, commercials showing big winners of sweepstakes by the Publishers Clearing House have aired on television.
Often, those watching at home sit wishing they were the lucky one getting that knock on their door.
One common denominator between the PCH winners, other than the check and balloons, is they’re always caught by surprise.
There’s rarely, if ever, a call made beforehand to inform someone of their winnings.
“When she got the letter, she just knew this was her big break,” says Carolyn Jordan. “When she called them, they verified, most definitely you did win. The whole nine works. You need to do this, sign this, get it back in the mail, ASAP.”
The letter in the mail and the calls that followed, typically coming from a number out of Jamaica, were a few of many red flags for Carolyn Jordan, but she wasn't the target.
An 84-year-old family friend was who the scammers called.
“They know that you’re looking for a world changing, life changing thing. You’re looking for that answer to every problem, and they know that money will be it.”
The family friend was told a crew from the PCH would come to her home on January 26 for the check presentation.
"The one thing that they said that really reeled her in was that, 'you're going to be a blessing to your church and god has finally shown favor to you, and now that you've won, I know you're going to be a blessing to your church'," said Jordan.
But that day came and went, and Jordan’s friend was told the presentation needed to be rescheduled to February 1.
"They told us they'd be there at 2 p.m. At 1:45, they called her and said, 'you have insurance due in the amount of $200.'"
From there, her friend was told to purchase a gift card at a specific store and give the number to the caller. Then, she was later asked for another $500 to be paid before she could receive her winnings.
"It was just a lot of false hope that I saw that she wasn't trying to see,” says Jordan. “I got upset, because I was thinking, putting my mom and dad there. What would they do?
Would my parents say it's true, it's true, it's true until the last day after they've given up their savings?"
According to the Better Business Bureau of East Texas, this type of scam has been around for quite some time.
But even still, people, unfortunately, fall victim to it. A BBB representative told CBS19 that phone scams are the most common, but whether it's by mail, email or social media, nothing is off limits for a scammer.
That includes millennial with a desire to do good. The BBB says in a socially aware society, younger people with a desire to donate to a charitable cause have recently fallen victim to these scams more often. But still, the elderly remains the prime targets.
"It is very important that we stay in their lives, stay very active in their lives,” said Jordan. “So that when something happens like this, they won't be afraid to tell us."
We should note this was *not* the PCH reaching out to the victim.
It's advised that all scams be reported to the BBB and the Federal Trade Commission, which is what Jordan did, on behalf of her friend.
But before falling victim to any scams, the BBB says, ‘do your research first’. The agency offers an online scam tracker with detailed reports filed locally and nationally.