Spectrum cable box activation scam

[russell_314]

I figure I should share my experience to warn others not to fall for this scam.

A family member received a new upgraded cable TV box from Spectrum. After the setup a message on the screen popped up saying call a number to activate the cable box. This sounds simple enough, right?

Well, here’s where the scam comes in. I’m sitting about 15 feet from the TV without my glasses so I see the 833 as 888. Because 888 is a very common toll-free number I didn’t even think I had it wrong. The person on the other end spoke very good English without any accent. They said they were with the marketing team and somehow I got transferred to them. Since I’m on the phone with them they had a great offer where they were going to send me a $100 gift card. I’m thinking they’re about to hit me up with some sort of cable TV package contract. No all I had to do was give them my credit card number and they were going to charge me a fee of $1.98 or something like that. According to the person on the phone was to make sure they complied with the law. Naturally, my alarm bells went off and I said to the person. No thank you I’m not interested. That person says oh no problem and gave me another phone number to call to activate my cable box. Of course that was a scam number as well, and I did not call it.

After getting off the phone, I was a bit shaken and took a moment to assess the situation. I realized read the number on the screen wrong. This is a case where you think you’re talking to a legitimate person since you made the call, so you have a bit more trust.

I suspect this scam is targeted at older people, who perhaps could not see the number clearly. These scammers have no shame! I hope this post saves someone from falling for the scam.

Edit: Just for clarity, Spectrum is not involved in this scam. Scammers purchased a similar phone number to the activation one.



Admin: Please move this if you need to. I hope it’s not deleted, but if it breaks some rule then okay. I’m just trying to save some of my fellow tech nerds pain.

 

[Chuckeee]

There is another ongoing scam (could be part of the same scam you experienced) related to “updated” boxes from your provider. Actually the whole offer is not directly connected to your provider at all! Never update the box based on a phone call, text message, mail solicitation, someone coming to your door or email you received. NEVER NEVER NEVER

You should Only update your equipment if you contact the provider directly. If in doubt, contact your provider directly, independent of the directions from a solicitation.

 

[russell_314]

There is another ongoing scam (could be part of the same scam you experienced) related to “updated” boxes from your provider. Actually the whole offer is not directly connected to your provider at all! Never update the box based on a phone call, text message, mail solicitation, someone coming to your door or email you received. NEVER NEVER NEVER

You should Only update your equipment if you contact the provider directly. If in doubt, contact your provider directly, independent of the directions from a solicitation.

That sounds pretty scary too. My first rule is never trust someone that called you. If someone calls you saying they are from ___ and they need information from you, respectfully say thanks I’m busy now but will call you back. Call the company on a number you are sure is legitimate.

Of course, with the scam I almost got hit with I called the number so I was assuming the party I was dealing with was legitimate. It was completely my mistake, but it really woke me up to the fact that even if you’re smart, you still have to be very cautious.


The first thing I thought was maybe the box was part of the scam but I confirmed with spectrum that they did send out the box. They are replacing their older boxes because they don’t work with the new system or something like that.


This scam just depended on me reading 833 as 888.

 

[eyoungren]

Long ago, when I was a teen living with my parents, the answering machine came in to our house at some point. This was a wonderful device, enabling me to screen calls and avoid talking to people I didn't want to speak with. If they left a message and I actually needed to call them, I called back.

When I moved out, an answering machine to screen calls was purchased for my new place. My wife was of the same mind so it worked for both of us. When we got cell phones, we let calls that were not in our contacts go directly to VM. If it was important enough to the caller, they left a message. If it was important enough to us, we called back.

To this day, this is how we handle things. If a number is not in my contacts, I don't answer the phone. There are sometimes where there is an exception, such as I am expecting a call from a particular number, but in general I don't answer unsolicited calls.

In the case of email, I always check who sent it and if I have to, the email header. I got an email from Cox a couple weeks ago. Cox is my ISP. They said they were switching to Yahoo mail. The email looked legit. Turns out it was, a quick Google search revealed webpages to this effect on Cox's website. But I didn't respond to it. I'll get instructions when this happens and I'll verify those too.

I don't respond to unsolicited email either (generally).

In the case of a lot of companies I deal with, I generally know how things go and their main numbers. I usually just call the main number. If they can't find me that way or have no idea what I am talking about, I know something's up.

Also, only I initiate a request for equipment. And that's usually in-store, depending.