Scam claims to be Publisher's Clearing House

The Cole County Sheriff's Department is warning citizens about a scam claiming to involve winnings from Publisher's Clearing House.

Sheriff's officials said there are scammers calling people and telling them they have won the grand prize of $9.5 million.

They tell the victims that they need to pay the tax on this winning money up front and to get $9,500 out of their bank account.

Once they get the money, the suspects say they will send a driver to pick up the money, along with 2 FBI agents, and then give the victims their winning check.

The scammers then call the winner back and explain they can't come by their house after all, so they instruct them to go buy a pre-paid card, such as a Vanilla Reload Network card and then call them with the numbers from the back of the cards.

These suspects are identifying themselves as "James Holly" and "Tony" and are also asking for personal information such as what kind of vehicle the victims drive, whether or not they own their home, and email addresses.

They are telling the victims that they are located in New York when the phone numbers they are using are: 1-876-430-3031 and 1-876-585-1311, both of which check back to an unknown location in Jamaica.

Sheriff's department officials contacted Publisher's Clearing House who explained that if someone did win their contest representatives of their company will surprise the winner by coming to their house and not contact them prior to coming. This way they can get some candid photo opportunities. They also stated that the Publisher's Clearing House does not have the winner pay anything to get their prize.

If you have any questions on this or if these subjects call, authorities said residents should not give them money and should contact the sheriff's department at 573-634-9160.