It sounds like a good deal.
An offer to save money on your cell phone and TV bill.
With the cost of mobile phone plans and streaming TV rising, who wouldn’t want to lower that bill?
Unfortunately, an offer for a big discount is truly a scam.
I checked my voicemail over the weekend and heard this message:
” Hello ! I’m calling from AT&T and DirecTV to let you know that your existing account is eligible for 50% off. “
Cell phone and television at half the price? Great!
So I called back and a robotic agent asked for my account number and PIN.
“Uh, sure.”
Sorry, I was not going to give this information!
Last year, Jackie Wilkinson received a similar call.
“He asked if you wanted to save money,†she said. “Of course at this time that doesn’t want to save money. So I said yes and he said great!”
But he wanted her to send money first.
Charlotte Harrison also got the call and says it went from friendly to scary.
“I think it’s horrible, because it scared me,†Harrison said. “I said I had to do it so I wouldn’t lose my TV! “
A few years ago, these fraudulent calls concerned your DirecTV account. And since most people don’t have a DirecTV dish, they would hang up.
But now they’re using AT&T, and with millions of people on the AT&T network, it’s easy to fall in love with this one.
So don’t let this happen to you. The Better Business Bureau says:
- Cellular, satellite and cable providers will never call you to reduce your bill.
- And, they’ll never ask for an upfront payment for an upgrade.
These are crooks who will ask you to prepay and then steal anything you send them.
When I tried to question the offer, the robot agent had nothing to do with me.
“Thanks for your time. Have a nice day,†he said.
So if you want to lower your bill, call your supplier.
Beware if they call you so you don’t waste your money.
