By: Alyssa Erwin
DAVISON, Mich. (WJRT)- A 75-year-old Davison man has been scammed out of nearly $130,000.
Terry Stevens said he's been an Publishers Clearing House customer for years. He enjoys the National Magazine, but also received mail about sweepstakes entries.
That makes his family feel like he was targeted by cyber-criminals who were sold his information.
"I feel terrible, but pretty much an idiot like everybody else probably has," said Stevens.
His step-son, John Hudson, said National Magazine called Stevens about his membership and to see how he was doing. The caller informed him that a sweepstakes was coming up.
Hudson said his step-father's name was then entered in a drawing. From there, Stevens received hundreds of mailed pamphlets explaining he was very close to winning. Weeks later, he got a call saying he won $2.5 million.
"It was real. These people, they have probably been doing this for years. They are tuned in. They will suck you right in with no problems," Stevens said.
Hudson said his step-father got tricked by all the brochures he received telling him that he could be the next winner.
"He believed he finally did win this," Hudson said of Stevens. "They said also there are some processing fees he would need to pay. They gave him instructions on how to go to the credit union and lie to them."
Stevens wired over $58,000 to a bank in Miami to "assist" with "taxes and processing fees" to receive the $2.5 million prize. The scammers told Stevens to lie and say it was for building supplies.
From there, they kept preying on him, saying if he didn't send more money, his money wouldn't cover the fee.
"The very next day someone made an online account for him, went into his account because there was no money left and took a loan against his checking account in two different transactions," said Hudson.
Stevens said he's never used online banking and doesn't use the internet or a computer. In the end, he said he was blindsided with all of his money gone.
"I just realized I was the biggest fool of all and what to do next," said Stevens.
The family has filed police complaints and contacted the bank multiple times, making a claim with the theft department. However, the possibility of finding those scammers and getting the money back is not very promising.
"This innocent man that's disconnected from the world just got taken advantage of by this evil world. But he got set up by Publishers Clearing House telling him any day he could be the winner," said Hudson.
In 2023, Publishers Clearing House was sued by the Federal Trade Commission to pay $18.5 million. The money was to pay consumers who spent money and wasted their time.
Publishers Clearing House was also supposed to make substantial changes to how it conducts business. But the Stevens family says the issues are still happening, now with cyber criminals involved.
"You're spending money with them. You're spending money with people who are giving your name to people who want to buy it. That's what it comes down to. Just don't fall for it," said Stevens.
He never thought he would get tricked out of his hard-earned savings, leaving him devastated. Now, he and his step-son are hoping to warn others about this sweepstakes scam.
"You steal his money, but you break this man down," said Hudson.
Publishers Clearing House says it will never contact winners in advance by email, phone or mail about major prizes. The family says while the story might be uncomfortable for them to talk about, they want to warn others to be aware.
There is a GoFundMe to help Stevens after this scam.
The Michigan Attorney General's Office says scammers are getting more creative, but there are warning signs you can spot.
Signs it's a scam include if you're contacted out of the blue with an urgent request, pressured to act or respond immediately, asked for payment in an unusual form, given vague information or if the caller doesn't want to answer questions from you and if you're promised something too good to be true.
You can report scams to the AG's Consumer Protection team here.
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Davison man loses over $100K to Publishers Clearing House scam
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