The Box Butte County Sheriff’s Office noted a rise in phone scams in the area regarding the Publishers Clearing House. They advise people to take caution in regard to offers over the phone.
Deputy JD Sutphen said that so far one Box Butte County resident has been conned into sending the scammers money.
“It’s been around before, and it’s coming back around again,” said Sutphen. “It’s a Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes scam. We just want to let people know that if you won the Publishers Clearing House without playing it, you probably didn’t win. It’s probably a scam.”
The scammers, Stuphen explained, are contacting people to tell them they won and in order to collect their prize, they have to pay all their taxes before they receive the money.
“They’re trying to get you to give up a lot of money to cover all the taxes from the big winning,” Sutphen said. “We just want to tell people that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”
Sutphen encourages people to contact law enforcement if they receive calls they believe are scams.
“Contact the police department or the sheriff’s office before you do anything to let us take a look at things and make sure whether it’s a scam or not in our opinion.”