Greg's Corner

Slick new scam targets satellite subscribers

By Greg Collier

Consumers who subscribe to satellite TV sometimes have to deal with a number of scams. This usually comes in the form of scammers offering some too good to pass up upgrade. The scammers will then use your financial information to take your money right out of your bank account or steal your credit card information. Some scammers will even ask you for your satellite TV PIN to divert your payment from your provider to the scammers. However, a new scam has popped up that is clever enough that it might find a higher number of victims than the typical scam.

In upstate New York, consumers have complained about a scam that sounds plausible but has a telltale sign it’s a scam. The scammers are posing as DirecTV representatives and offering an upgrade as a co-promotion with eBay. As part of the deal with eBay, customers are being asked to pay for the upgrade using eBay gift cards. As we always say, gift cards are a surefire way to tell if something is a scam. No legitimate company takes gift cards as payment. Scammers prefer gift cards since they can be redeemed almost immediately and are virtually untraceable.

What makes this scam a little more concerning than usual is that the scammers are said to have customers’ account numbers. How the scammers are obtaining this information is unknown at this time. So even if the caller has your account information, that doesn’t rule them out from being a scammer. Anytime you get a call like this, you should hang up and call your provider at their customer service number listed on your bill. They’ll then be able to tell you if an offer is legitimate or not. However, if the offer is tied to payments in gift cards, that’s virtually guaranteed to be a scam.