Brand New Scam Involving Your Smart TV

If you’re like me and you are just sick and tired of the same old scammers trying the same old scams then this is great news. We are all thinking, “those scammers need to up their game, this is just too easy.”

If that’s your thinking then you'll love the brand new con that they’ve conjured up to help them steal your personal information and even better, bilk you out of your hard-earned savings.

The Better Business Bureau is warning consumers of a fresh and hot new scam where criminals target unsuspecting victims through their smart TV.

Here’s how it works.

When you try to log in to any of your favorite streaming services or apps, instead of logging in you get a pop-up. This pop-up looks no different than any other pop-up you might find on your TV, laptop, or phone and prevents you from logging in or viewing the service.

So now you know, if you didn’t before reading this, yes, unsavory individuals can now access your smart TV.

The pop-up might say something like “there is an issue with your device” or “we found an error with your streaming service.” It then asks you to call a phone number or visit a website where the crooks are waiting to talk you into sending them money or sharing private and personal information. They may also ask you to click on something that allows them to gain control of your smart TV.

They may ask you to send an activation fee, which is a ruse to get your credit card or bank account number. The Better Business Bureau says that services like Roku and many others “never charge activation or registration fees.”

Here are some tips to prevent falling for one of these schemes.

Do a quick check to see if the service or app actually requires any fees. Websites are a threat even on Smart TVs, make sure a website is legit before clicking on it. Check any and all phone numbers before you call them, a simple Google search will reveal any red flags. Finally, never agree to give control of your device to anyone you don’t know.

A couple of important things you can do is to be suspicious of anything and everyone, and do some research before you share or do anything. There are new scams like this one literally popping up every day so it’s easy to be caught off guard.

If you spot a smart TV scam, report it to BBB.org/ScamTracker.

Pagers, typewriters, or video tapes; things go away because they become obsolete.

These obsolete items are products or technologies that are no longer in use or have been replaced by newer and more advanced versions. Examples of obsolete items include: VHS tapes and cassette tapes, which have been replaced by DVDs and digital media, CRT televisions and monitors have been replaced by LCD and LED displays, flip phones,  replaced by smartphones, film cameras replaced by digital cameras, typewriters replaced by computers, and landline telephones were replaced by mobile phones.

There are so many more examples of obsolete items which have little or no value and are discarded or recycled.

It's never-ending with more items that will be obsolete in the future. Let‘s take a look at fifteen things that are predicted to go away within the next decade.

It’s just a matter of time before we’ll use our phones exclusively to operate everything and cars are one of them. Get the car, get the app.

While we’re pretty close right now, the day will come when they’ll only offer digital copies of movies.

I know it’s hard to imagine a world without cards for special occasions, but people are moving closer to a paperless world and it’s forecasted that birthday cards will eventually meet their demise.

We don’t really need them now with many of us using our smartphones to pay. I haven’t used a credit card to buy gas in over a year, you just activate the gas pump with the app.

Nobody will be sad to see these things go. Fingerprints, facial recognition, and other keyboardless ways to log in will be the only way to go.

Much like the fob, the key will go away. We’ll be using our phone or watch to unlock doors.

From glasses to contacts to laser surgery. In the near future, we’ll be able to use daily or weekly eye drops to correct our vision instantly.

We’re already parking and paying at kiosks, but very soon, we’ll be able to just park and be charged automatically based on an account connected to our license plate.

Our phones and laptops will be set up to automatically charge the same way a wifi signal is sent to our devices. Imagine that, your phone is constantly charging wherever you are, it's coming.

Actually, we’re already there, everything is stored in the cloud for a fee. It will take time, however, for people to fully trust not having a backup they can see or hold.

There’s that phone again. Not only will you replace all of your remotes with your smartphone, but you’ll also be able to simply speak any command for anything you want to control. “Hey TV play Game of Thrones,” or “Hey blinds set to halfway,” or “Hey Thermostat set at 72 until 8 pm then change to 65”

It’s hard to believe that we’re still writing checks. With apps like Venmo and many others there’s no reason to, and no worries about it getting lost in the mail.

Speaking of mail, the daily delivery of bills, and junk mail will cease to exist, unless it’s digitally. While packages will still be delivered, the mail carrier will no longer be driving down your street.

Many are already cutting cable, and eventually, each channel or streaming service will or already has its own app on your smart tv.

Everyone has a preference when it comes to what color to use when highlighting words on paper. The purple highlighter is the least popular with dramatic declines in sales in recent years. With many complaining that its dark shade is too close to the ink of the printed words, experts predict that by the mid-2030’s purple highlighter manufacturing will cease.