Need advice - fraudulent charges

[standage]

Hi all - new here looking for some answers. My co-worker had Dish with auto pay, no paper statements. Had it for years with no trouble, then all of sudden major trouble with pay per views being ordered - all pornographic. Unfortunately they didn't catch it until 5 months down the road and lost $1,000. They did not order them, nor did anyone in the household. (And she's investigated that - not a chance it was family member) There were even more than 20 movies ordered in one day! Dish refused to refund or even indicate that there was any problem and they needed to pay the bill.

She canceled the account and switched to Directv. Has had it for several months, did not set up auto pay this time, receives paper statements. She didn't get a bill for August and thought it strange, called them to get the amount and it was $50 bucks over the regular amount she pays. They informed her that there had been pay per view movies ordered, but they were ordered in May. They claimed that they must have recently hooked up a phone line to the receiver and that's why the delayed billing. (That doesn't make sense to me) They claim they were ordered through the remote. She has the code to the remote and no one else does. Again, movies are at odd times, when they are home when they are not and all pornographic. She was advised by a friend to use remote to see what movies had been recently ordered and they so show up on the screen in 'history' I believe.

So, my biggest question is, can someone be hacking into her account or signal and make it appear that it was ordered with her remote? And is it still possible for them to do so even when the service has been switched from Dish to Directv?

 

[boba]

Hi all - new here looking for some answers. My co-worker had Dish with auto pay, no paper statements. Had it for years with no trouble, then all of sudden major trouble with pay per views being ordered - all pornographic. Unfortunately they didn't catch it until 5 months down the road and lost $1,000. They did not order them, nor did anyone in the household. (And she's investigated that - not a chance it was family member) There were even more than 20 movies ordered in one day! Dish refused to refund or even indicate that there was any problem and they needed to pay the bill.

She canceled the account and switched to Directv. Has had it for several months, did not set up auto pay this time, receives paper statements. She didn't get a bill for August and thought it strange, called them to get the amount and it was $50 bucks over the regular amount she pays. They informed her that there had been pay per view movies ordered, but they were ordered in May. They claimed that they must have recently hooked up a phone line to the receiver and that's why the delayed billing. (That doesn't make sense to me) They claim they were ordered through the remote. She has the code to the remote and no one else does. Again, movies are at odd times, when they are home when they are not and all pornographic. She was advised by a friend to use remote to see what movies had been recently ordered and they so show up on the screen in 'history' I believe.

So, my biggest question is, can someone be hacking into her account or signal and make it appear that it was ordered with her remote? And is it still possible for them to do so even when the service has been switched from Dish to Directv?

Someone in her family likes porno. The same thing happening with two different services. The programming showing up on the receiver history says she has a hacker living in the house.

 

[jcflesh]

Solution is simple... block the access to the cannels, put a spending limit per month in the receiver.. now if it continues to happen and they charge more then the spending limit per pay per movie or porn.. then u have a case.. but until now it just sounds like previous posters said "some likes porn in your house"

 

[Hall]

They did not order them, nor did anyone in the household. (And she's investigated that - not a chance it was family member)

As boba said, someone in the house is ordering them. There's nothing to hack into here. Theoretically, a neighbor could buy a Dish receiver, splice into their lines, call Dish and have the receiver added, then PPV-away. Pretty far-fetched, don't ya think ?? Better yet, they switch from Dish to DirecTV so the neighbor has to do the same thing again.

How old are the people in the house ? I'll bet we can guess who's doing it.

 

[Mr. Kennedy]

Sounds like maybe someone is ditching school and coming home to get their rocks off.

That or maybe a husband comes home early from work for a little afternoon TV delight.

My question is, how do you not notice you are getting billed an extra $1,000 over five months? Even if you aren't getting a paper bill, when the payment comes out and it's $20 more than you are used to paying, wouldn't you check the online statement?

Your friend needs to sit down and have a talk with the family. There is no hacking going on.

 

[moonman]

I'm not familiar with Dish, but the way D*
bills for PPV, data is stored on the access card, not on the receiver, so yes the phone
line thing is valid...the receiver needs to call the mothership from time to time to report
charges. The fact that the August bill was
MIA is very strange. As was said, set a spending limit on PPV's and lock the box with a password that you are not likely to
forget......

 

[Hall]

The fact that the August bill was MIA is very strange.

Not strange at all.... Find out who "lost" that bill and you'll also find the person who's been ordering all of the PPVs.

 

[standage]

Okay - I hear you all loud and clear. However; she still stands by the fact that no one could have ordered it. What about this angle....

Someone mentioned to me that when they switched to Directv that she may have received a refurbished box and that it is possible that box could have had some movies on it previously. Then when a phone line was plugged in (which she claims has never been done) it alerted Directv that there were movies ordered. Is this possible?

The previous problems with Dish I would have to think were mostly fraudulent just the way things went - from me listening to her talking/yelling with customer service and getting 20 different answers. I'm thinking someone on the corporate side could have stole their account somehow? That has been mentioned to me as well. She is going to hook up her Dish box tomorrow to see what the history says. Maybe that will shed some light. However Dish would never provide her with a list of movies they were charging her for. Her online statements didn't work, and even after requests, she has not received anything from them except a delinquent notice on the charges she was able to dispute through her bank.

My question is, how do you not notice you are getting billed an extra $1,000 over five months? Even if you aren't getting a paper bill, when the payment comes out and it's $20 more than you are used to paying, wouldn't you check the online statement?

This was just a lesson learned. She wasn't paying close enough attention to her bank statement.

 

[Hall]

Two different services, both having PPVs ordered on the account but denied by all in the house, and you still believe her ?? Or, she still believes the others in the household ?? Sorry....

If this happened with one service and stopped, fine, something funny was going on or it was simply a mistake. It's happened with both services now. That is NOT a coincidence.

PPV information is stored on the access/smart card, not the receiver itself. The smart card she rec'd should, I'm guessing, have been in a sealed envelope. They may refurbish receivers but not cards.

 

[DanBobTerror]

Lex parsimoniae: entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem

Your "friend's" kid has never inhaled either.

 

[shmeff]

She can call D* and have them to put a password on the account and tell them disable the impulse pay-per-view.

 

[standage]

Gotcha - I'm just trying to explore all avenues to help her out and help her get to the bottom of things. Thanks to all.

 

[standage]

entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem

Had to look that one up. Great insight!

 

[iwc5893]

Okay - I hear you all loud and clear. However; she still stands by the fact that no one could have ordered it. What about this angle....

Someone mentioned to me that when they switched to Directv that she may have received a refurbished box and that it is possible that box could have had some movies on it previously. Then when a phone line was plugged in (which she claims has never been done) it alerted Directv that there were movies ordered. Is this possible?

No...the access cards on refurbed units are purged before they are sent back out to the field. If the card is not purged, it is still shown as active on the previous customers account and it can not be activated without a new card being sent.

What your friend needs to do is call D* and disable IPPV on all receivers on her account and then put a password on the account. The only way to order PPV with IPPV disabled is to go to the website (requires a login) or calling D*, which will require the password.

 

[Claude Greiner]

Deffinitly sounds like someone in the house ordering the PPV.

As a retailer I have seen it 100 times, always porn and the customer always claims nobody could have ordered it in their household.

The sad thing is that DISH Network looses a customer over this because of some idiot kid or huspand who likes to watch porn.

If the purchases are showing up on the receiver, then there is no doubt that someone in the house likes to watch porn and is ordering the movies!

 

[charper1]

110% agree, this it is her putting way to much blind faith in the "family" and looking to place blame on an outside source; as there is a miscreant afoot in the abode that is fiendishly procuring the cinema of an erotic nature.

 

[fwlogue]

Okay - I hear you all loud and clear.

Someone mentioned to me that when they switched to Directv that she may have received a refurbished box and that it is possible that box could have had some movies on it previously. Then when a phone line was plugged in (which she claims has never been done) it alerted Directv that there were movies ordered. Is this possible?
.

NO even if she got a refurbished unit it would have had a new Access card in it. On top of that Directv will not activate a previously used card onto another account.

I have set all receivers in my house to a $1.00 spending limit for PPV. This way when ever soemone wants to purchase something it is blocked until the pin number to unlock is entered into the remote. She should set this in to something only she knows and not tell anyone what it is.

 

[shmeff]

I have set all receivers in my house to a $1.00 spending limit for PPV. This way when ever soemone wants to purchase something it is blocked until the pin number to unlock is entered into the remote. She should set this in to something only she knows and not tell anyone what it is.

That’s only a 4 digit code though… don’t know if that would stop a bored/horny teen.

 

[charper1]

do you really think they will attempt all 10000 combinations? Please. And if you were doing the right thing you will change the PIN every month which will screw any attempts to the above.

 

[ccg3]

Best thing you can do is put a password on the box that you can't guess at, if still with dish call and tell them you don't want any PPV and have the PPV Zero Dollar amount. Then you can't order PPV.