GREENSBORO, N.C. — Right now so many of us are sitting down and going line by line through our bills looking for places to save money. That's why one triad woman was so excited when she got a text claiming to be from Spectrum offering her a deal of just $84.99 per month, about 50 percent off her current bill.
“You take somebody who's on a fixed income, you're paying $160 for a cable bill and they're like, here it is for $80. Yeah, I'm all in,” said Lisa Scarlett.
But red flags started flying when they told her to get the deal she had to pay a deposit for several months in advance.
“When they said we need a deposit, we need five payments of $80 as a deposit and then we'll knock it off each billing cycle till you get the promotion. I'm like, I've been a customer spectrum for over 30 years, why would I need a deposit?” Scarlett said.
And the final straw that made her hang up the phone was when the scammers asked her to pay the deposit using gift cards. That’s something the Better Business Bureau says you should never do.
“That's a red flag,” said Lechelle Yates from the BBB of Central and Northwest NC. “if you're ever asked to pay anything with a gift card, do not do it. Gift cards are for gifts period.”
One more thing that makes this scam seem so real: they somehow know your current bill and account information when you first call them. I've reached out to Spectrum to ask how scammers could get those details, but Spectrum did not address that question. They did write:
"When a customer is suspicious, they should contact us to confirm the validity of any offer on our services. We never ask for gift cards as payments."