FTC Refunds $18 Million to Eligible Publishers Clearing House Customers

More than 281,000 people will receive checks after the company’s 2023 settlement over allegedly deceptive ‘dark-pattern’ sales tactics.

The Federal Trade Commission in Washington on Jan. 9, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said on April 30 that it had begun sending refund checks totaling $18 million to 281,724 people who bought merchandise from Publishers Clearing House (PCH) after clicking on sweepstakes-themed emails that the agency alleged were deceptive.

Each check must be cashed within 90 days and arrives automatically—no forms or fees are required.

The payments are the result of a June 2023 court order that required PCH to pay $18.5 million in consumer redress and revamp its online sales and sweepstakes practices. Regulators accused the company of relying on “dark patterns”—design choices and wording that misled shoppers into believing a purchase was needed to enter a contest or would boost their odds of winning.

Emails allegedly carried subject lines such as “High Priority Doc. W-34 Issued,” resembling official tax notices, while web pages implied that “just one order” could clinch a cash prize. The FTC also alleged that PCH hid shipping charges that averaged 40 percent of an item’s price, called orders “risk-free” even though customers paid return postage, and placed privacy warnings about data-sharing deep in fine print.

Only shoppers who opened one of the flagged emails and completed a purchase qualify for a refund. The FTC urges consumers to ignore anyone who asks for money or account details in exchange for a check.

The refund program is part of a broader FTC effort to curb manipulative marketing, the FTC noted. The FTC also reported that its enforcement actions returned $338 million to consumers in 2024.

PCH, famous for its “Prize Patrol” surprise check presentations, has faced mounting financial pressure from the case and declining print sales.

On April 9, the company filed for Chapter 11 protection in New York, saying it would wind down most catalog operations and begin “breaking free from the past” to focus on a digital, advertising-supported gaming business.

Under the 2023 order, PCH was ordered to clearly separate sweepstakes entry from sales pages, eliminate any suggestion that buying improves winning chances, reveal full shipping costs up front, and destroy consumer data collected before January 2019. The order also requires PCH to save records of any A/B testing or other user-experience studies, allowing regulators to spot future design tricks—known as “dark patterns”—that subtly steer people toward unwanted purchases.

PCH noted in a statement that the checks being sent out now by the FTC were from the 2023 settlement.

“While we disagreed with the FTC’s assertions at the time, we were glad to have resolved the matter and move forward continuing to do what we do best—provide consumers fun entertainment and games powered by our famous chance to win,” PCH Vice President for Consumer Affairs Chris Irving said.

The FTC advises prize seekers that legitimate contests never require a purchase. Anyone contacted by someone claiming that payment is required to collect a PCH or FTC payment should report the scam at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

Refund checks were mailed on April 30, the agency added. The agency will post updates, including potential second distributions, at ftc.gov/PCH once all payments clear.