Ray Ratliff says his mother was an extremely generous woman, but sometimes too generous.

Ratliff says, "Mother always had trouble saying no."

In December 2008, while going through his 91 year old mother's bills, Ray noticed a bill from Publishers Clearing House for hundreds of dollars

Ratliff says, "She had paid 330 dollars over 2008 but still owed several hundred dollars."

Ray's family took care of the debt, but even after his mother passed away in December 2009, the trinkets kept coming in the mail, and so did the bills.

Ratliff says, "The line was, 'these were on back order and we just go them in. Of course we're not sending stuff to dead people."

The family filed a complaint with the Attorney General, and they weren't the only ones. Thursday, 33 other states reached a 3.5 million dollar settlement with Publishers Clearing House to cover the states' investigation into the scam.

Senior Assistant Attorney General, Charli Fulton, says, "It's illegal to require someone to purchase goods to enter a sweepstakes, or to win."

In 2001, the company was sued by 16 states for leading consumers to believe their chances of winning millions of dollars would be better if they bought merchandise from the company. But Fulton says now if the company suspects someone is elderly and confused, or is buying large amounts of merchandise, they have to be surveyed on the telephone or cut off.

"Now there are numbers if you spend this much in a quarter of a year you'll be cut off. Most people who win the sweepstakes didn't buy anything." says Fulton.

With that, Ratliff says others won't be scammed, like his mother was.

If you think you or an elderly member of your family is a victim of this type of scam you can file a complaint with the Attorney General's Office and get it stopped.