{"id":193228,"date":"2026-03-16T08:46:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T08:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/193228\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T08:46:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T08:46:12","slug":"south-florida-96-year-old-targeted-in-publishers-clearing-house-scam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/193228\/","title":{"rendered":"South Florida 96-year-old targeted in Publishers Clearing House scam"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12)  \u2014 A 96-year-old South Florida man thought he had just won nearly $2 million.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, the letter he received in the mail turned out to be <a href=\"https:\/\/info.pch.com\/fraud-protection\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">part of a scam<\/a> using the name of the well-known sweepstakes company, Publishers Clearing House.<\/p>\n<p>The man, Al Rizzo, said the letter looked convincing at first.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI got a letter from Publishers Clearinghouse and in this letter they said out of 80,000 plus people, five of us received an award,\u201d Rizzo said. \u201cThe amount showed here was $1,950,000.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The letter included company logos, a reference number, stamp and even a photo and signature of a company executive, details that made it appear legitimate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause of all of the work that this letter shows, you have to almost believe it\u2019s real,\u201d Rizzo said.<\/p>\n<p>See also: <a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/news\/local\/cuban-community-rallies-near-mar-a-lago-calls-for-end-to-communist-regime-south-florida-cuban-rally-mar-a-lago-protest-2026-free-cuba-now-movement-trump-cuba-policy-2026-cuba-regime-breaking-point-cuba-energy-crisis-news-miguel-diaz-canel-trump-tal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Cuban community rallies near Mar-a-Lago calls for end to communist regime<\/a><\/p>\n<p>But something didn\u2019t feel right. Instead of calling the number listed in the letter, he checked with family members first.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s when they realized the letter wasn\u2019t real and appeared to be part of a scam using the Publishers Clearing House name.<\/p>\n<p>Publishers Clearing House confirmed to CBS12 News that it never calls, texts, mails or asks people to send money to claim a prize. The company says if someone wins a major prize, its well-known \u201cPrize Patrol\u201d delivers the prize in person without advance notice.<\/p>\n<p>Rizzo said he worries other people, especially seniors, could fall victim.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m concerned for people who are getting this mail and don\u2019t realize that it is a scam and they\u2019re going to take them for a lot of money,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Consumer protection attorney Chris Irving, who has worked on sweepstakes scam cases for more than 30 years, says there\u2019s a simple rule people should remember.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you are asked to send money, pay a fee, tax or provide a gift card to collect a prize you have not heard from PCH or any legitimate sweepstakes,\u201d Irving said. \u201cIf the prize is not free, it is not real.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Irving says scammers often target older adults by sending official-looking letters designed to build trust.<\/p>\n<p>Rizzo said he\u2019s relieved he didn\u2019t lose any money, though he admits there was one disappointment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow I can\u2019t go to Vegas,\u201d he joked.<\/p>\n<p>Experts say if you receive a suspicious prize notification, do not respond. Instead, report it to the Federal Trade Commission or your local law enforcement agency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A 96-year-old South Florida man thought he had just won nearly $2&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":193229,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-193228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}