Publishers Clearing House Says It Mistakenly Sent Oklahomans Winning Emails

You're a Winner!

That's the message some Oklahomans got over the weekend from Publisher's Clearing House, but later that day, as they were celebrating, they got another notification that it was all a big mistake.

Those people were on the Publisher's Clearing House official website, where you can play games to win prizes, when they were notified they won $10,000.

Sharon Skidmore was playing the games on her phone when a notification with Sharon's name and city popped up, saying she was a winner.

“My heart is racing a hundred million miles an hour,” she recalls.

“I’m in a desperate situation, so I play a lot,” said Perry Mason, of Norman.

The same thing happened to him. He's been off-and-on homeless for the past year and thought he finally caught a break. 

“I really want to pay back some people who I owe money and I want to get a stable place to live, things like that,” he said.

Mason later got another pop up saying the winner notification was a mistake. Skidmore received an email saying the same thing when she got home later that evening.

“All day long, I was thinking, 'I won $10,000,'” said Skidmore.  

A Publisher's Clearing House spokesperson said it was human error and the pop up was programmed incorrectly to show the player's name, not the real winner. The company said they regret this happened and entered all those who got the notification into another contest for a chance at $10,000.

But Skidmore said that's not good enough and she wants the company to honor the notification. 

“You told me I won $10,000, I would like to see it,” she said.

Now, although this a legitimate mistake, there are a lot of scams out there that use the Publisher's Clearing House name so you need to be careful.

Five ways to avoid being scammed from the Better Business Bureau: 

• Never pay money upfront to claim a prize or cover so-called taxes. If you're being asked to load money on a prepaid card or wire money, it's a Publishers Clearing House impostor scam. 
• Remember, no one will send you an e-mail or a note on Facebook to announce that you've won a million dollars or more.
• Why would you win a prize in a contest that you've never entered? 
• Ask a relative or trusted friend to review any letters or e-mails if you think you've won a prize. 
• Never give personal information, such as a credit card number, in order to verify that you won a prize.