So what's the scam with the fake DirecTV/Spectrum calls?

I'm just curious. I get these all the time. Typically a call for Spectrum TV followed by a call for DirecTV between 5 and 15 minutes later. I know they're fake because they always come from spoofed (local) numbers and because, scummy as they are, the corporations behind the real companies wouldn't be violating the DNC registry and the Truth in Caller ID Act.

So is is something as simple as trying to get credit card numbers? (I'll be disappointed if that's all it is.) Are the real companies running an affiliate system that pays a bounty for getting people to sign up — and these callers are trying to exploit it? Something else?

I welcome all information, insight and speculation!

From what I have read, they offer you 40% to 50% off your bill for the next 6 months or year as long as you pay them upfront with a gift card.

Thank you! That sounds like a plausible scam. Unfortunately.

Yes, that's been what's been happening in my area...  Provide a debit card to get your "discount"..

Some of these scammers are getting pathetically desperate. I had one the other day claiming to be from "your TV provider". Not Comcast, DirecTV or Spectrum or any other business name. Just "your TV provider".

LOL. Yup. we must be getting calls from the same ones.
Just an FYI. I did have an acquaintance who successfully sued Spectrum for some calls. As I recall it was a royal pain. They operate under different names it seems and it was somewhat difficult to track down the proper responsible party.

ATT/DirecTV uses an offshore call center to develop new customers. Typically a week later I get an actual credit letter from ATT/DTV, offering a deal requiring more $ up front. So ATT/DTV most definitely IS violating TCPA.

The calls from Spectrum to lower the bill are NOT from Spectrum. They are phishing.

You seem to be the one and only person here that said that they go a letter and that the calls were legitimately from ATT/Direct TV.

We are getting calls from them, too. The first time they called they asked for my BIL who died ten years ago, despite telling them over and over again he was deceased. That did not stop them from trying to sell us premium channels, which I turned down and told them we were not interested. That has not stopped them from calling. Though we do have DirecTV as part of our bundled services with AT&T, we don't answer their calls anymore and regardless of where they are coming from. We are on the verge of getting rid of them due to their continuous price increases and lousy customer service.

They're phishing for your money.

I finally blocked them today after three days of back to back to back calls. Enough.

Different Indian/Pakistani call centers are behind the [1] sign up for new AT&T/DirecTV bundled service for land line/Internet/TV; and [2] calls to lower the bills on your DTV/Spectrum service. The [1] callers are tied into AT&T/DTV, have some of my prior account info, and 10x+ times I got a letter from AT&T in Carol Stream, IL that I wasn't approved for the credit deal being sold by their affiliated, overseas call center. The [2] callers call me from a huge phone number list that isn't differentiated by service provider, i.e., I last had Spectrum in 2014 when it was Time-Warner Cable, and ATT/DTV in 2015 after moving 2 miles to a neighborhood with no Spectrum T-W service. The [2] callers clearly have never had access to my old AT&T/DTV account.