Got Comcast/Xfinity? Watch Out for the Newest Scam!

[Charles Fischer]

I got a call while going to the office today, and the caller ID showed it was Comcast/Xfinity.  I answered and the noise in the boiler-room of people was loud in the background, and of course English was his second language.

 

He said that their monitors showed a problem with my firewall at my home, and I needed to be in front of it to make some change in order to keep service going.  I told him that I will not be home until this afternoon, and I set an appointment for a phone call then.  (Gotta get home to watch Our Beloved Diamond Ducks vs. Ohio State!)

 

When I got to the office, I called Xfinity about my home account; after shouting at their damned voice tree system long enough...I got a live agent who checked the file and explained that, 1) no one from Xfinity called me today, and 2) the phone number they called me on was NOT an Xfinity number, and 3) the scammer wanted me to put in a link by keyboard or some method into my electronics they would explain in the upcoming phone call...

 

The result is they would take over my computer system, which would be a disaster with all my FishDuck stuff, personal stuff, all of which would be fantastic for a full-on identity theft for them.

 

I am blocking the number they called on, and when they call--I intend to give them some colorful language that is not allowed on this forum.

 

I'll bet it is a Beavis calling....

 

[30Duck]

The actual Comcast is bad enough. 

[Charles Fischer]

We had a very tech-savvy reader of this forum call me to explain that I should not tussle with them over the phone...in fact, do not answer the call.  They can actually create havoc with your phone apparently with the new AI stuff the bad guys are using.

 

The good guys are always playing catch-up.

 

And thanks to the kind soul who called me, and who expressed his love of this forum community.

 

 

[Steven A]

I actually sometimes engage them.  I "follow" instructions ... They say to open a browser and type in a url.  I say I am doing it and nothing happens.  After about 3 tries, they have me switch browsers sometimes to firefox.  I again don't do it but say that I am.  I will do this for a few minutes and then ask them if there is something wrong on their end.  When I am done fussing with them, I let them know I was messing with them so they spent their time with me knowing it was a scam, so they have less time with other possibly gullible people.  Then the RBs usually hang up on me . . . what terrible customer service!!! 

 

And with Paypal scams after my phony credit card account and number don't work, just before I hang up, I ask if I give them my SS number if that will help.  I can only imagine their "I just hit the lottery with this dumb A" state of mind before I deflate their crotch when I say gotcha.

 

Hey, ya gotta have some purpose in life when retired besides this forum.

[sports fan]

I was a Comcast customer for about 25 years.  All they did was raise the cost seemingly every year.  I had the "bundle", cable tv, wifi and a land line.  I finally pulled the plug, sort of, ditched cable tv and my land line phone. I still have the wifi.  I haven't received any calls from them but do get a lot of emails saying my account has been compromised and I can't get any service, which is simply not true. 

 

Also emails saying I need to contact social security, Amazon, my local bank etc.  I did actually receive a phone call years ago.  I could tell it was from a foreign country because the caller spoke broken English.  I toyed with him for a while before he hung up on me. 

 

And speaking of Comcast, if anyone is ready to move on, I would suggest YouTube TV.  It has all the sports channels and I am very satisfied with it.