A senior citizen in The Dalles spent the weekend stressing about a phishing call involving her Dish Network account that she worried might have made her vulnerable to identity theft.
What made the call for information seem legitimate, she said, was that the Dish Network toll-free number popped up on her phone display. The male caller, who spoke in broken English, told her there were problems with the satellite system and asked her to access her television menu of services to do a performance check.
He then asked for the number on the receiver box and also wanted to know how many TVs she had in the house.
Although the woman, who asked not to be named, provided that information willingly, she drew the line at giving the caller her personal security code.
“I said, ‘I’m not comfortable with giving you that information,’” she said.
After hanging up on the man, the woman called the Dish Network customer service line to report the incident and find out if she had left herself vulnerable.
Early Monday morning, she also called her bank to ensure that no movement had taken place on her accounts.
According to the woman, bank officials told her they had heard from other people about the scam.
“I’m fine but there are a lot of seniors out there who get intimidated by that kind of stuff and I think they should know about this,” she said.
DISH’s corporate office in Colorado was unable to be reached for comment.
The Dalles Police Department said it has not received any reports about the DISH scam.
However, an online search revealed a series of phone “phishing” scams from people claiming to represent DISH in recent years.
Phishing is the name given to the tactic of callers using bait to lure in a victim. It is an attempt to acquire sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords and credit card details (or money) by use of false information.
Although fraud scenarios about the need for DISH system upgrades, or offers of more services at a discounted price, vary, the purpose of the calls is to get as much personal information as possible.
Callers then impersonate their victims in an attempt to get more information from DISH that is used to access credit cards and bank accounts. In some cases, they have opened accounts in other cities under the name of the victim, or collected money from people who pre-paid for an upgrade.
Consumer protection information released by Dish, www.mydish.com, urges people to take the following preventative measures:
• Strengthen your online ID and password. When a database of usernames and passwords is stolen or hacked, criminals often try to use that list on hundreds of other company websites to see if they can get into other accounts. Don’t use the same password on multiple sites.
• Don’t send money outside of your normal payment method. Criminals will make people great offers in exchange for an upfront payment (usually money order through a service such as Green Dot or Western Union).
• Don’t give out your personal information. Any data that a criminalcollects about someone is considered a successful phishing attempt.
• Report fraud attempts to local law enforcement agencies, as well as the FBI, Federal Trade Commission and International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network. If everyone reports these types of calls, it gives authorities more investigative leads and prosecutors have more of a reason to pursue them.
On another scam front this week, cybercriminals are exploiting the Hurricane Harvey disaster and posting fake charity websites to target people who want to help.
Scammers are attempting to trick people into clicking links on Facebook and Twitter and sending our phishing emails to solicit charitable giving to the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund, or a similar name. People are urged by law enforcement officials to go directly to the charity of their choice to make a donation.
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