The Kerrville Police Department issued a warning today after receiving a report about scammers impersonating Spectrum, the cable provider, in an attempt to deceive residents into divulging their money and personal information.
According to authorities, the scammers use various tactics, including phone calls, recorded messages, or text messages, offering recipients the chance to lower their monthly payments. The fraudsters claim that to qualify for the discounted rates, individuals need to prepay a portion of their bill. The scammers instruct victims to make these payments using gift cards, citing a partnership with a company for a promotional offer. Once the scammers receive the gift card numbers, the funds are irretrievable.
Kerrville police emphasized that this incident might be just one of many that go unreported. They shared a recent incident where attentive cashiers thwarted a potential victim. The cashiers recognized the signs of a scam when a customer attempted to purchase several hundred dollars worth of gift cards. They intervened, alerted the customer to the scam, and promptly contacted law enforcement.
Authorities have urged residents to be cautious and emphasized that legitimate businesses, including Spectrum, would never ask for payment in the form of gift cards. Kerrville Police Department stressed the importance of using gift cards only for their intended purpose – as gifts. Anyone demanding payment through gift cards, or instructing others to buy gift cards for non-gift purposes, is likely engaging in a scam. Victims of such scams risk losing their money permanently, without any possibility of recovery.
For more information on these types of scams, visit . And if you spot this, or any scam, report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
