Pbs.org Reports & Reviews (1)
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SCAMPULSE
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SCAMPULSE
If you know any contact information for Pbs.org, help other victims by adding it!
Reported details
My TV did NOT start. It was hung at the end-of-installation screen. After about 10 minutes a chat box popped up from "Dave" at PBS National Headquarters. I explained the current problem. He said he needed to call me, and I gave him my phone number. I didn't get to the phone in time, so he asked me to call him at 332-699-4804. He answered. He spoke with a foreign accent, from India, I think. He seemed to have information about me and about my past contributions to PBS. He said my PBS account was "too old", and I had to pay $300 to "upgrade" it. If I agreed to do this, he would email me an invoice and unlock my TV. He did, in fact, unlock the TV.
The "invoice" was from Rku Technologies. It included links to "Complete purchase" (didn't click this, just looked at address), "Visit our store" (https://rku-technologies.myshopify.com/password -- this is a work-in-progress -- just the company name and a message "Coming soon") and at the bottom, "If you have any questions, reply to this email or contact us at [email protected]". A business using a gmail address???
After seeing the company information on the "invoice", I told him repeatedly (1) I don't have a Roku device, and (2) PBS is a charity, and access to PBS PassPort only requires an annual contribution of $60. He demanded that I pay the invoice, since he had already unlocked my TV, and he threatened me with legal problems if I didn't pay. I finally just hung up. I did not give him any bank or credit card numbers. I did call my local PBS office to tell them that this chat box had popped up on the pbs.org site, so might have been hacked. Scan of my computer with 2 antivirus programs showed no malware.