A postcard promised millions — but the real surprise came when a locksmith showed up at her door, sent by scammers in a relentless sweepstakes scam.
By the end, a retired nun from wheeling tells NBC 5 Responds, her life savings were gone.
If you haven’t heard of Publisher’s Clearing House giveaways, they used to be a big deal. In old commercials, you’d see a crew burst from a van with balloons and a giant check, knocking on doors and surprising unsuspecting, often elderly people with millions of dollars.
Rene Pientka, 80, knew all about the old-school sweepstakes giant. So when the retired nun received a notice in the mail that she’d won $10 million dollars and a new car, she wanted to believe it. But she was hesitant after reading that PCH would never notify you about prizes by mail.
It wasn’t until months later when Pientka received a phone call seemingly confirming her win that she started to believe it.
“They said that in order to receive the prizes, I would have to pay luxury and sales tax. They were convincing. They were very suave. They were very personable,” said Pientka.
Pientka lives alone without internet or a cell phone, hoping the digital isolation would protect her from scammers. But without access to PCH’s warnings online, she started sending money to who she thought were PCH employees. But it wasn’t enough. Their calls kept coming — asking for more money.
On a few occasions, the scammers even sent small gifts to Pienkta’s address. A plant from Amazon, and even a pizza on another occasion, Pienkta recalls. But by late 2024, Pientka was getting suspicious of the two men she had been communicating with about her sweepstakes prize. So, she says she stopped answering their calls.
Then came a knock at the door.
“They sent out a locksmith from Chicago to this address,” said Pientka.
The locksmith declined an interview, but told NBC 5 Responds he got a call from someone claiming to be Pientka’s grandson, saying she was locked out of her car. When the locksmith arrived at her house, the scammer begged him to put Pientka on the phone.
That’s when he says he realized the caller wasn’t Pientka’s grandson at all. He says it’s not the first time this has happened—scammers have sent him to elderly victims’ homes, hoping to reconnect after the victims cut off contact. He says he’s reported those fraudulent calls to local police departments at least five times, and that’s what he did in Pientka’s case as well.
“He then called the Police Department and really got them actively involved,” said Pientka.
“We do see that often because it’s the loss of contact and they don’t want to lose contact with those people,” said Wheeling Police Sgt. Michael Bieschke.
By the time police got involved in early 2025, Pientka had already drained nearly $400,000 from her 401k, sending five personal checks to different addresses across the country in order to claim her jackpot.
She kept all the names, addresses and account numbers she sent money to. Pientka says she hoped that with all that detailed information police would’ve been able to track down the people who scammed her.
But it turns out those names led police to other victims. Elderly people who were unknowingly helping the scammers move stolen money out of the country. They’re also known as ‘money mules’
“A lot of times you’re not going to be able to charge them because they’re unaware of what’s happening. They’re, they’re themselves are getting scammed,” said Sgt. Bieschke, who adds it’s not often that victims get their money back in cases like Pientka’s.
Wheeling Police say they’re working with the FBI because Pientka is the victim of a complex scam linked to international organized crime. And they believe she likely got onto the scammers radar because she almost fell victim to a Medicare scam just a year before.
“When [the scammers] realize, ‘hey, we lost this scam’, they’ll wait till it cools down a little bit, kind of out of your mind and then reinitiate,” said Bieschke.
Now, instead of enjoying her twilight years, Pientka is searching for a part-time job to make ends meet. She says she had planned to use her 401k money to move into an assisted living facility nearby. Now, the future is uncertain.
“The disappointment of dreams not coming true. I no longer have the funds that could be available for medical care,” said Pientka.
Police say, if you’ve been the victim of a scam in the past, you may want to change your phone number and contact information so you’re not targeted again. Publishers Clearing House says it will never ask you for money to claim a prize, or notify you in advance if you’ve won a prize.
Rene’s family has also set up a GoFundMe to help with her daily expenses.
