CLEVELAND — A flier circulating in Northeast Ohio offering free home internet service is raising red flags among digital skills training experts.
"There's no website, there's no logo," Gina Birch, a program manager at the Ashbury Senior Computer Community Center in Cleveland, explained. "There's nothing to identify who this is coming from except a phone number."
SUSPECT FLIER
The flier, which was even posted on the official Facebook page of a school in Cleveland, asks people with SSI (Supplemental Security Income), Medicaid, or EBT (Electronic Benefits Transfer) to call a local number to inquire about free services. The number is connected to a landline with no owner listed.
"No Monthly Bill" is written in all caps.
"I believe what their goal is is to collect your phone number and potentially more information that they can get from you calling that number," Birch said. "They can just take that call log and just collect a list of phone numbers and sell it. Even if that's their only goal, they can get your first and last name and phone number and sell that."
DigitalC, a Cleveland-based internet company providing low-cost connectivity and free internet service to Cleveland Metropolitan School District families, flagged the flier to 3News.
"It's frustrating for us when we see fraud out there," Ladonna Norris, director of community outreach and education for DigitalC, lamented. "Everyone just has to be vigilant and question what's the source, where did this come from, before they act on it."
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU CALL?
3News called the number on the flier twice Monday morning and was connected to a voicemail message instructing callers to leave their number or to wait for someone to return the call. Shortly after, a representative from the number on the flier called back, asking questions about EBT, Medicaid, SSI, government assistance, Spectrum service, and whether a Spectrum bill was owed.
When questioned about the name of the company or program offering the advertised free home service, the person on the phone claimed to be part of "community outreach" through Spectrum.
"We're through Spectrum," the representative said. "We're just under a different program."
After 3News questioned the legitimacy, the representative hung up.
Later, a person identifying himself as a supervisor named Jason Robertson called back from the same number. He claimed the "call center" was helping people get online by paying their bills, with the center working to enroll callers in a low-cost internet option.
The "supervisor" also mentioned the end of the federal Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which provided "a discount of up to $30 per month toward internet service for eligible households and up to $75 per month for households on qualifying Tribal lands." The program ended on June 1 due to a lack of additional funding from Congress.
"Don't believe there's anything free," Birch said. "Unless you're getting DigitalC (Canopy home internet service) through CMSD, there is no free internet. It's over."
THE FLIER AND NUMBER ARE NOT ASSOCIATED WITH SPECTRUM
A representative from Spectrum responded to a 3News inquiry through email, saying "the flier showed is not from Spectrum, and the phone number is not associated with our company."
Spectrum provided a statement reading, "Unfortunately, there are many scammers and different types of scams out there, affecting all types of companies. When a customer is suspicious, they should contact us to confirm the validity of any offer on our services."
TIPS FOR THOSE IMPACTED
Spectrum provided the following guidance for those who have been targeted:
- Spectrum will never ask you to pay your bill by gift cards, wire transfer, cryptocurrency, payment apps (Venmo, Zelle, CashApp, Paypal), or offer a discounted rate for a fee.
- Because it's so easy for scammers to spoof a Caller ID that looks like Spectrum or another provider (even when it isn't) anytime you are contacted by a business that you do business with, you can call them back at the number on your statement, not the number the caller gives you, before sharing any personal information.
- And with Spectrum, you can always contact us and verify whether an offer you’ve seen is legitimate.
- More information is available online here.
The Federal Trade Commission also provides advice for consumers who paid someone they think is a scammer or gave their personal information or access to their computer or phone to a scammer. You can find that information here.
Birch offers these additional tips:
- Working directly with the scam squad and doing things like freezing your credit and ID theft protection subscriptions can be helpful.
- The malwarebytes tool walks you through seeing what has potentially been exposed then provides potential consequences and solutions.
- Pause/change any card numbers given out, including EBT
- Update passwords regularly and make them hard to guess. Keep them written down in a safe place, and don’t share with anyone.