Scammers are posing as your TV and internet company

Did Spectrum or another provider call with an offer to lower your monthly TV, cable, or internet bill in exchange for a pre-payment or fee? It wasn’t them. It was a scammer, and you’re not alone. This year, the FTC has gotten thousands of reports — including many from older adults — about scammers pretending to be Spectrum to try to trick people out of their money or personal information.

Here’s how the scam often works: You get a phone call, recorded message, or text with an offer to lower your monthly payments. The caller — or the person who picks up when you call the number they give you — says you need to “prepay” part of your bill to qualify. They tell you to pay using gift cards because they’re partnering with a company for a promotion, and to call them back with the gift card number. Once you do, they collect that and other personal information over the phone.

If you get a call like this, here are a few things to know:

• Never give out your personal, account, or payment information to someone who contacts you out of the blue and demands it. Hang up. It’s a scam.
• Don’t trust caller ID. Scammers can fake caller ID so it shows a company’s name or phone number. And never call back a number from a recorded message or listed in an unexpected email or text.
• Don’t pay for anything with a gift card. Gift cards are for gifts. If anyone tells you to pay with a gift card, or to buy gift cards for anything other than a gift, it’s a scam. You’ll lose your money, and you won’t be able to get it back.

For more information on these types of scams, visit ftc.gov/imposters. And if you spot this, or any scam, report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

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