direct tv/Amazon scam

[Drifterdriver]

On Oct. 6, 2016 I was contacted by an Indian sounding person from 1-888-*** saying he was with Direct TV.

Long story short he was offering me reduced monthly rates on my Direct TV bill and I would get premium channels, and NFL Sundays for 2 years.  Said it was a promotion with Direct TV and Amazon.  They were promoting Amazon Gift Cards and if I paid 5 months up front with an Amazon gift card within in 24 hours I would receive a $100 Visa gift card as well.

Originally I agreed, his supervisor came on line to record and verify the agreement.

I was given, what he said was the billing department for Direct TV (1-888-***) and an authorization code to use when I called after purchasing the Amazon gift card.

I got on line and contacted AT&T at 1-800-531-5000 since I am bundled with them.  The girl in billing assured me this was a scam, but she had never heard of it before.  I suggested she contact her supervisor or someone.

I got on line and searched Direct TV/Amazon scams and found this scam had been going on since February!

Why does Direct TV / AT&T not notify their customer and employees of this scam?

This scam is well implemented, to good to be true or not!  Get off you butts and inform your customers!

[Edited to comply with Guidelines]

[peds48]

How shoud DIRECTV be aware of this folks pretending to be them?  Is up to the consumer to do due delligence. Never, ever give out any monies from anyone calling you.  Hang up the phone and call the number for that company to confirm. The fact the wanted you pay with Amazon gift cards should be raising red flags everywhere...

[mossderrick71]

Because they will be liable if they do that. They've had a data breach and don't want to get sued. [Edited to comply with Guidelines]

[shannon02]

Unless there is possibility of immediate loss of money there are no legal reasons for a company to notify any customers of a data breech.

[litzdog911]

Why do you think this has anything to do with a data breach?  There are lots of way for scammers to find out if you're a DirecTV customer.  Often their first question is something like "who's your TV provider?"   Then they can trigger their scam around whatever company you answer.   

[mossderrick71]

No sir. From the onset they're representing DirecTV. What's even more intriguing is the calls almost always happen after a payment to your account has been made. Problem is DirecTV outsourced call centers in other countries. What's to stop them from selling off client info. Or using that info maliciously for themselves.

[peds48]

What's to stop them from selling off client info

@mossderrick71 the risk loosing theor cotract.  

For the record, DIRECTV has had no data breach.  Most of this scams comes from phishing, folks giving out their info willingly thinking they are delaing with DIRECTV when they are dealing with the Prince of Nigeria

[mossderrick71]

Sorry sir. The person sitting in the cubicle all day answering phone calls gives a squat about the company contract. He/she is trying to hit a quick lick. Plus you guys probably have little or no regulation.

[litzdog911]

You're barking up the wrong tree, @mossderrick71.   These sorts of phishing calls happen to lots of companies, including DirecTV.  There's no evidence that any "data breach" caused this one.   Time to move on. 

[mossderrick71]

Very much the right tree. And I'm just getting started. Have spoken with three different reps since incident. The cover-up is real!!!

[Drifterdriver]

I agree, the scam likely starts with someone Direct TV outsources to in India. They knew my address, name, what I paid monthly, how long I had been a customer. I gave them no information. I have had legitimate calls from Direct TV that sounded just like this call. I feel it is AT&T and Direct TV's place since the services are bundled to make customers aware of a scam as soon as they hear one is in place. Since the scam was reported on line in February, they have had plenty of time to notify their.customers.

[rrayster]

I also had the same thing happen to me.   The main difference was the incoming call on Sept 20th was from 800-531-5000, which is the DirectTV customer service number, and that they did not have an Indian accent (at least not a strong one - I have been to India ~30 times, so know Indian accents quite well).    How can someone on a scam originate a phone call from DirectTV's own customer service phone number?  They had all my account informaiton.   I feel quite strongly that this has to be a leak from an AT&T offshore customer service call-center, also having access to client account data.    And then same as described by DrifterDriver, I then was given the AT&T billing dept number to separately call and make the final payment arrangements.   The billing dept number was 888-407-8781 whom also had all my account information.    If I had not been called from the DirectTV customer service phone number, I also would've thought it was strange that I'm pre-paying 3 months of a bill by Amazon gift card. But they said it was a cross promotion between DirectTV, AT&T and Amazon, to dually promote the AT&T and DirectTV merger, as well as Amazon promoting their gift cards for payment.   WHY HAS NOT AT&T DISCLOSED THIS SCAM TO THEIR CUSTOMERS??

[litzdog911]

It's very easy to spoof anyone's Caller ID information.  

[rrayster]

litzdog911 - do you work for AT&T?    You seem to be very supportive of AT&T on this issue.   Per your earlier post - They never asked me if I was a DirectTV customer.   When they called me, they knew that my AT&T wireless number was linked to my DirectTV account #, and they had my account details.  

[litzdog911]

No, I do not work for AT&T.  But I've received plenty of scam calls.  As I stated earlier, the vast majority of these are NOT related to data breaches.  But feel free to believe what you like.   

It's also important to remind folks to NEVER post their account or personal information in a public forum.  You might be amazed at how often we see posts here with every account detail.  It's very easy for scammers to harvest that sort of information from public internet sources.