Dish Network Scam Phone calls from Google Chat 760-705-8888

[sparc]

Just as a general heads up to people on the forum that there are some unscrupulous people from India trying to take advantage of people using the anonymous Google Chat number 760-705-8888. May show up as a "California Call" in your Caller ID.

They're basically using the anonymous number that all Google Chat users are registered to and pretending to be Dish. They'll come up with this info about some satellite changes and wanting you to pull up receiver information from your TV.

Don't fall for it and give them any information. Don't even give them your name.

Here's an example of how serious this scam can mess up your Dish account:
http://www.scaminformer.com/scam-report/dish-network-dish-network-fraud-internet-c49518.html

 

[dare2be]

That web page is from over a year ago. Is this still happening? Did you recently receive a call?

 

[sparc]

That web page is from over a year ago. Is this still happening? Did you recently receive a call?

yep, i posted because i got a call that read exactly the same up to the halfway mark in his story. This guy actually called twice. The first time we asked him to take us off his phone list. Then he called back a minute later. Absolutely persistent and it would be very easy for someone to become a victim.

The difference is that I refused to give the guy information of any kind. The person at that link gave extra info like credit card number and got royally screwed with some Dish nightmare charges.

Of course when the guy realized I had caught on to him, he started swearing at me and telling me to go to hell.

Google Chat isn't actually the only service that allows anonymous numbers like that. Dish customers need to be aware of the pattern that they're using rather than focus on the number. This is actually a more advanced scam than before. In the past, they used to use USA numbers that could be traced. Now they've evolved to anonymous numbers in the USA where companies like Google don't care how badly they are misused.

 

[Mr Tony]

looks like they are using that number for a lot of different scams
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-760-705-8888

 

[dare2be]

Yet, according to the report, he DIDN'T give any information, and the caller already had such info. Something doesn't seem right with that report:

He verified that he is from dish network by repeating my programming, last 4 digits of my credit card, and my last billing statement.

I refused to give him my card number and told him that I need to talk to dish network to confirm if this is true. When I called dish network on my other line he hung up. A few hours later I receive an email from my credit card company that there has been suspicious activity on my card.

 

[sparc]

Yet, according to the report, he DIDN'T give any information, and the caller already had such info. Something doesn't seem right with that report:

is there are a way for third party dish sellers to look up account information from something like a receiver ID?

The receiver information was the first thing he was looking for. He wanted me to pull up a screen on the current receiver trying to claim that I had some outdated equipment.

Of course, i'm on the latest dish and have the hopper.... so he's completely full of crap

 

[Mrs Daisy]

better avoid the number, i looked it up at tellows

 

[The Fat Man]

When a number like that calls, I screw with them. We got one asking about movies I liked, a basic Columbia House kind of gimmick. I told them I really liked one called "Hit Her in the ..." and other adult titles that a friend of my brother's usually states in a joking manner. Other times I might say I really liked that one with the donkey. And when say question which one I'm talking about, I'll start explaining a graphic scenerio. For calls like this, I might start spouting off random one liners. Like "oh yeah, go ... your mom" and such. I do this to even the honest telemarketing people. In modern times, with computers, smartphones, etc. we don't need these people calling our homes. Now for the OP's situation. I don't take any calls claiming to be from Dish. I have here and Dish online chat to receive info. Any call gets hung up on and I contact here and Dish chat to check on the validity.

 

[primestar31]

Didn't you read the article? It was reported his email address was changed on his Dish Account. That means they hacked it, and probably got all the info from there. Then they called the guy and "phished" for the rest of the info they needed.

Last summer I had those people calling me to buy meds. They claimed to be from my legit on-line pharmacy through work where I get my prescriptions. I kept pissing him off by demanding their real phone number first. They finally asked me why I wanted it, and I told them "so I can report you to the Feds as scammers". It took two more weeks of them calling 10-20 times every single day (I let it go to my dead-end answering machine) before they gave up.

 

[sparc]

now we get sales calls from someone claiming to be Dish Network from "Unknown Name" and Unknown Number.

I just said we're on a 2 year contract from DirecTV and he promptly ran out of questions. He basically couldn't proceed with his scam at that point... lol