FTC refunds $18.5M in damages to consumers allegedly harmed by Publishers Clearing House

Author John Lesley Reading 2 min Published by May 1, 2025 Modified by May 1, 2025

Sara Adair shows off the oversized check for $1 million that her husband received from Dave Sayer of the Publishers Clearing House Prize Patrol in South Boston, Mass., in 2022 — Sara Adair displays the $1 million check that her husband received in 2022 from Dave Sayer, Publishers Clearing House Prize Patrol, in South Boston, Massachusetts.
Photo by Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe / Getty Images

Key Takeaways

The Federal Trade Commission will send a total of 18.5 million dollars to 281,724 customers affected by allegedly false claims made by Publishers Clearing House, a sweepstakes company.
The FTC said that the shopping and sweepstakes firm sent misleading emails to consumers, which led many of them into purchasing products from the company.
The FTC stated that older and lower income consumers were especially deceived to purchase products to enter a Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes or boost their chances of wining.

The Federal Trade Commission is sending checks worth $18.5 million to consumers who were allegedly affected by false claims made by Publishers Clearing House, a sweepstakes company.

The FTC said on Wednesday it is refunding 281,724 customers who ordered items from Publishers Clearing House, after receiving an email deceptive from the company.

FTC points out allegedly misleading consumer emails

Publishers Clearing House, which offers multi-channel shopping and "free-to-play, chance-to-win" sweepstakes, made misleading claims in emails to consumers, the FTC alleged, including:

Tricking older or lower-income consumers to purchase products in order to enter a sweepstakes, or to increase their odds of winning.
Sending misleading emails to consumers that make them believe they are receiving official documents like tax forms.
It is misleading to claim that orders from Publishers Clearing House are “risk free” even though the consumers who want refunds have to return products on their own cost.

"The refund checks being sent out now by the FTC were from a settlement reached between PCH and the FTC in June of 2023," Chris Irving, vice president of consumer affairs at Publishers Clearing House, told Investopedia in an email. "While we disagreed with the FTC’s assertions at the time, we were glad to have resolved the matter and move forward."

Publishers Clearing House filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier in the month.

Update, April 30, 2020: This article has been updated with a comment by Publishers Clearing House.