Text Message Scam – TV Services [How I learned it was fraud]

I received a text message for TV Services that was a scam! Here are some tips on how to deal with it. Honestly, I was shocked. This has never happened to me until October 2020!

My credit card information has been stolen a few times now. Here is an articles on Pro Tips for Less Stress!

In addition, I do receive many phone calls that are labeled “spam risk” and decline the phone calls on a weekly basis.

Furthermore, I have been through fraud trainings during my employment at a local community bank. Ultimately, the biggest takeaway is how the con artists get people to act quickly. Certainly, if it’s too good to be true, you have to realize it really is too good to be true.

How it Happened

There I was sitting at my kitchen table and I heard my phone message alert go off. Of course, I looked at my phone and thought, awesome, I can save money on my TV services!

As a matter of fact, I didn’t call the phone number in my message, right away. Of course, I was really busy, so I waited for another day when I had time to wait on hold.

Then, a few days later, I was thinking about how I could save money on my monthly bills and I remembered the text message that stated I could save 50% on my monthly TV services.

As a matter of fact, I called the number in the text message to see how much money I would save each month and if this promotion would apply to me.

I wanted to save money!

Certainly, just like most people, I just want a good deal and ultimately save money.

As a matter of fact, I called the number, they mimicked all the same questions ATT/Directv would ask to retrieve your account information.

Similarly, the representative asked me how much I paid for TV services. For the purpose of saving money, I responded, “about $130/month”. Of course, the representative responded saying I could save $65/month for 3 years. I was intrigued!

With this in mind, the representative told me I needed to purchase $325 worth of Ebay gift cards wherever Ebay gift cards are sold. One example was Walgreens.

In other words, the $325 was to purchase 5 months of upfront TV Services. Alas! In fact, I would not receive a bill for the next 5 months. Sounds exciting, doesn’t it? After the 5 months was up, my TV services bill would be $65 a month, for the next 3 years.

The Warning Signs of a Text Message Scam

Generally speaking this raised warning signals for me. I questioned the representative as to why I would buy Ebay gift cards to get TV services. His response was, “given that the two companies are teaming up tother, you get to save money.

He gave me an authorization code that I was to give to the ATT/DirectTv Billing Department.

He also stated I could cancel my service at any time.

Then he gave me a phone number of 855-705-0345 and to “press 1”. I was to give the code on the back of the gift card to the representative at this number.

Even more warning signals! Please, realize that if you give the numbers on the back of a gift card, you are essentially giving them the amount of money on that gift card.

Despite my hesitation, the representative then told me that if I went & purchased the ebay gift cards in the next 90 minutes, I would receive a $50 Visa gift card by Fedex within 7 days.

Furthermore, the representative wanted me to act quickly before I could think this through. Nevertheless, even more warning signals were sounding and I was thinking this must be a text message scam.

The representative then asked if I had any questions or if I need clarification on anything he discussed. However I did not have any further questions.

How to confirm a Text Message Scam

At this point I needed to end the call because I knew this seemed like a text message scam. I wanted to contact my tv services provider, which was ATT/Directv, to see if this offer was legitimate.

After I hung up from the call, I contacted ATT/Directv and asked them if they had any promotions like the one I had been offered.

Unfortunately, they told me it was a text message scam.

Ultimately, I was happy I didn’t fall prey to fraud, but then I thought about others who need to be warned.

During my employment at a local community bank, it is alarming how many people fall prey to fraud. I think we want to believe people wouldn’t take advantage of us or hurt us.

I want to protect you from being scammed so please pass this along to your friends and family to keep them safe from scams.

Tips to avoid scams:

• If somebody is trying to get you to act quickly, stop. This is a warning sign!
• If it sounds to good to be true, it is.
• Here are some great tips from the FTC on how to recognize text message scams.

To report a scam from a text message, email, iphone or landline – you can go to the FTC website and file a complaint.  This is what I did. It was very easy.

For Apple support you can Click here for more information on how to:

• Block phone numbers, contacts and emails on your iphone, ipad or tablet
• Filter messages from unknown senders
• Report spam or junk messages