Homeless encampments are on Arizona ballot in November election Los Angeles Times

Table Of Content

• Tip 3: Be Suspicious of Callers Claiming You’ve Won – But Ask You to Send Money
• Tips and Warning Signs
• The little-understood reason why clearing homeless encampments became harder in California than most other states
• Government regulation and legal actions
• What one man’s castle in Scotland says about L.A.’s homelessness crisis
• How to Unsubscribe from PCH Mails or Emails

That letter even included his name, as schemers often use the names of real PCH employees to make their messages sound more legitimate. Her brother sent a gift card to scammers who claimed he won the PCH million-dollar sweepstakes. Judd, 70, is known online for his boisterous press conferences where he shares information about the people that the Polk County Sheriff's Office arrests. Police arrested Michael Lawrence and Max Richards in connection to the scam, but were only able to recover around $40,000 of the money, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said in a press conference on Friday, according to Fox 13. If you want to go really big, you can enter to win $1.25 million dollars for your dream home. Most folks are familiar with PCH because of our legendary Prize Patrol, who deliver giant (in both size and dollar amount) checks, champagne, and balloons to awestruck winners, all while the cameras are rolling.

Tip 3: Be Suspicious of Callers Claiming You’ve Won – But Ask You to Send Money

Such a model would represent a shift for many states and localities that have more often asked voters to spend money on housing, drug treatment and mental health services that researchers have found more effective than a punitive approach to addressing homelessness. If you are asked to provide your credit card number or provide your financial bank account information in order to claim a sweepstakes prize — STOP. Fraudulent scam artists often request this information and then go on a spending spree with your credit card; or wipe out your bank account. You get a letter telling you that you just won millions of dollars, along with a large check to help you pay taxes and fees.

Tips and Warning Signs

Don't pay anyone who contacts you and promises you a refund but asks you to pay a fee or attempts to obtain your personal information. Remember, every day and every place you play with PCH means MORE WAYS TO WIN, so don’t miss out on a single opportunity — enter PCH sweepstakes today. You can also fill out a Fraud/Scam Incidence Report to help them track current scams. These publications focus on particular topics.[47] Wide Open Spaces is about outdoors lifestyle, the Editorial Director of the publication is Rachael Schultz, formerly of Insider and Hearst Communications. Finally, their sports publication FanBuzz previously belonged to Cox Media Group.

The little-understood reason why clearing homeless encampments became harder in California than most other states

For example, Kuehl's letter states that she was entered into the sweepstakes as a result of "cross-promotion by marketing companies." The letter lists Publishers Clearing House, MasterCard, Visa, and the state lotteries as partners. He also said checks distributed to a prize winner would not reference any third-party organizations. Kuehl's check, for example, was issued by an organization called Farmers Property and Casualty Insurance Company in Oklahoma City. Publishers Clearing House, the Jericho-based sweepstakes and magazine subscription company, plans to lay off 156 workers at its headquarters starting in July, according to a state filing. The hype and the hope of hitting the jackpot, winning all that life-changing cash from Publisher’s Clearing House Sweepstakes, can lead to PCH imposters stealing victims’ life savings.

The Postal Service and Publishers Clearing House also recommend evaluating letters to see how many organizations and entities are listed as affiliated sponsors or supporters of a contest. Irving advises people to be wary of letters that "throw the names of many different companies in hopes to establish legitimacy." Kuehl is the second reader to contact Public Investigator in the past year about receiving suspicious mail promising financial gains. According to a report by the Federal Trade Commission, more than 42,000 Americans lost a total of $81 million due to mail fraud scams in 2023. Immediately, Kuehl thought her sudden stroke of financial luck seemed unlikely. She didn't recall entering any contests or filling out a document that would have warranted the cash reward.

More women have been successful in getting jobs on job websites like Indeed, she said. But no matter what, “I do like to get them to job fairs so they can have the experience of networking and asking questions,” Pierson said. She uses a walker and pretty quickly felt “a little anxiety” while navigating the job fair along with other members of the public. Still, she said she hoped to find a part-time job to supplement disability payments when she gets out.

Scammer gets $600K from elderly Troy woman who thought she won sweepstakes - WDIV ClickOnDetroit

Scammer gets $600K from elderly Troy woman who thought she won sweepstakes.

Posted: Thu, 28 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]

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The FTC charges that PCH used dark patterns—manipulative phrasing and website design—to  convince consumers that they needed to buy a product of some kind to enter the company’s sweepstakes or increase their chances of winning. Property owners often helped homeless people with money and jobs, but the situation had gotten out of control, she said. Most of the city’s shelters for homeless people are on 13 acres on the edge of downtown, by railroad tracks, warehouses and a historic cemetery. The Keys to Change campus, as the complex is known, includes eight buildings and most necessary services, including counseling, job help, mail services and converted trash bins where people can lock up personal possessions. PCH, known for its prize patrols and oversized checks, said in a state Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification filing that nearly half of the 393 workers at its 300 Jericho Quadrangle headquarters would be let go from July 19, 2024, to Feb. 28, 2025.

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Police warn of scam calls claiming to be from Publisher's Clearing House or Mega Millions - WECT

Police warn of scam calls claiming to be from Publisher's Clearing House or Mega Millions.

Posted: Mon, 12 Feb 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]

She also has pictures of her front gate, so crowded with tents she could not get in and out of her warehouse. She pointed over a wall toward what she said was her former home — in an apartment near Matthews, the medical services driver. So are more than 14,000 Arizonans on a given night — a homeless population less than half the size of California’s on a per capita basis, but still one of the nation’s largest, according to federal statistics that are known to understate the problem. Matthews didn’t know much about Arizona’s ballot initiative but said it sounded like something he would support.

How to Unsubscribe from PCH Mails or Emails

As for more recent tracking of the female re-entry programs’ results, Xjimenez said 24% of current participants are employed, and 43% are getting education and training. Laura Pierson, the vocational program instructor at Saint John’s, said she doesn’t know what happens to her students afterward because she is not allowed to have contact with them after they leave; they are tracked by their parole officers afterward. The researchers also figured out that two of the programs for men cost taxpayers  less than the average annual cost of incarceration, which now stands at more than $132,000.

Publishers also received a sales tax exemption of up to $1.6 million on its purchases of equipment for the site. "If someone tells you to pay a fee for 'taxes,' 'shipping and handling charges,' or 'processing fees' to get your prize, you're dealing with a scammer," the agency warned. PCH Media is built upon an iconic sweepstakes and entertainment brand with a 70+ year history of engaging and activating consumers. Our 100% authenticated and addressable audience powers future-proofed marketing solutions that help brands, agencies, and tech partners accurately identify and interact with qualified users. There are lots of fun and heartwarming stories from real PCH winners on these social media channels. Pierson said that in the three-and-a-half years she has been the vocational teacher for the program, at least one of the women who has taken her class has secured a job from a job fair.

Judge Scott Blaney of Maricopa County Superior Court found that police were not enforcing “criminal, health, and other quality of life statutes and ordinances.” Last November, he ordered the city to clear the Zone. She wants that life back, Bauldwin said, but the first step, a shelter bed, has been out of reach. Life has been even harder since the police started enforcing trespassing laws, intermittently kicking her off the property. On a recent spring morning, a pair of homeless outreach workers in their 20s, Tyler Boyd and Charles Schmiedeke, toured the city in a Toyota RAV-4. Each felt a calling for their work — Boyd after his prayer for a homeless man to find a job was answered, Schmiedeke after four years spent living on couches and in cars with his mother.

In March, California voters only narrowly approved Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to spend $6.4 billion to overhaul the state’s mental health system. My favorite book of all-time is probably “Black Boy” by Richard Wright, and I’m currently finishing up Kazuo Ishiguro’s latest, “Klara and the Sun,” a speculative fiction novel told from the point of view of an android companion. An exclusive look at what we’re reading, book club events and our latest author interviews. The letter to the state noted that the FDC is looking for more customers to retain work and stay open. The company says the plant is closing because its only contract, with the Publishers Clearing House, is ending due to the clearing house’s commerce line of business closing.

If you receive a check claiming to be for a legitimate sweepstakes prize and are asked to cash it and wire or send a portion back — STOP — you are the victim of a fraudulent contact. Consumers should always remember that at Publishers Clearing House no payment or fee is ever necessary to enter or claim a prize. If you receive an e-mail notifying you that you have won a major sweepstakes prize, but are asked to provide personal financial information, or send money — STOP -– you have most likely been contacted by a fraudulent sweepstakes scam operator. At Publishers Clearing House we do not notify major prize winners by e-mail.

In recent years, the sidewalks outside Keys to Change became known as “the Zone” — home to a skid-row-like cluster of tents, with hundreds of people sleeping on the pavement, block after block. We definitely love vintage paperbacks, which we set out in wine crates like records so people can flip through them, cover to cover. I think we’re looking for all the different ways the human experience is interpreted and expressed, and we look to provide a wide variety of ways people communicate those experiences in print. Recognizing the difference between legitimate sweepstakes and other types of offers that may not be legitimate will help you protect yourself and your family. Hearst Television participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites. The victim is instructed to deposit the check in their account and immediately return most of it to the claims manager to cover taxes and fees.

Once they complete certain requirements, they can get permission to go offsite for school, work or church. The program at Saint John’s currently has 47 participants, including those attending community college and some who are working toward getting their GED diplomas. Before she landed at the re-entry program, she was at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, where she took part in a labor apprenticeship program. Recently, Twyman completed a vocational training program at Saint John’s Program for Real Change, the Sacramento halfway house where she is serving out the rest of her sentence.