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Publishers Clearing House and lottery scams: "Pay a fee to claim your prize"

Updated October 16, 2026. By the AskBeforeYouSend editorial team (how we fact-check). Fact-checked against the official sources listed at the bottom.

Short answer: If you have to pay anything to get a prize, it's a scam. Publishers Clearing House says the real PCH will never call you or ask you to pay money to enter or claim a prize, and the FTC says real prizes are free.

What it looks like

Congratulations! You've won $2.5 million and a new car from Publishers Clearing House. To release your prize, pay the $599 processing fee with a Green Dot card.

A made-up example in the usual style.

How the scam works

A call, letter, text or social media message says you won big.
To collect, you must pay "taxes", "shipping" or a "processing fee" first.
They keep inventing new fees until you stop paying.

Red flags

You won a contest you don't remember entering
Any fee, tax or charge before you get the prize
Payment by gift card, wire, crypto or prepaid card
A "winner" message on social media

What to do now

Don't pay and don't share bank details.
Report fake PCH contacts at scamreport.pch.com and to the FTC.

Never send money, gift cards, crypto or verification codes because of a call, text or message. Hang up and call the real number.

Check a message like this

Report it

Report a fake PCH contact: PCH's own page for reporting people who use its name.

Report to the FTC: For any scam, even if you didn't lose money. Takes about 10 minutes.

Questions

They say the fee is for taxes. Is that normal?

No. The FTC says requests for taxes, shipping or processing fees to collect a prize are red flags.

Sources

Example messages are made up to show the pattern unless we say otherwise. Phone numbers in examples use the fictional 555 range.

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