OT: Con Men

[UMRules06]

So I was at home today when a man knocked on my door. I answered it and a guy claimed he worked for AT&T (after he asked me if I had Xfinity, or WOW, I told him I had Direct TV). He did not appear to be wearing any official wearing AT&T uniform. His shirt did have a logo on it but it didn't look like anything related to AT&T.

So immediately after I told him I had AT&T I thought I had said too much already. The guy then proceeded to try and ask about what type of equipment I had, and that he was trying to get me a better deal yada yada yada. At one point he even tried to get me to tell him how much I was paying a month. I didn't reveal any of that info to him.

So long story short, this guy was screaming "con man". I notified the police and gave them a description. Never had something like this happen to me before though. I wonder if the end game was to try and eventually get into my home or have me reveal personal info for identity theft?

Anyone else have this happen to them?

 

[Monster]

He was probably legit. I've had two att people come do this at my place. Chances are they don't work directly for them, but work as a 3rd party. The last guy i talked to found out i had directv. He said that was fine and that he could take half off of my bill if i called and cancelled my service and reordered through him. Sounded dumb since i would have to pay early termination fees, but he said new service gets a $200 gift card. Since att now owns directv, i knew that technically, i wouldn't be getting new service and would be ineligible for that reward. He then proceeded to call Att and confirmed that i was right. He then gave up and moved on to the next house.

 

[UMRules06]

I dunno something did not seem right about him from the get go. He only said he worked for AT&T after I told him I had Direct TV. Why would he not know what type of service I already have if he's an employee with AT&T?

I called a local ATT store as well and they said they don't send anybody out like that. She also said their employees all wear similar badges, and I didn't see any type of badge on the guy. The girl agreed it sounded really suspicious.

 

[tomdalton22]

So I was at home today when a man knocked on my door. I answered it and a guy claimed he worked for AT&T (after he asked me if I had Xfinity, or WOW, I told him I had Direct TV). He did not appear to be wearing any official wearing AT&T uniform. His shirt did have a logo on it but it didn't look like anything related to AT&T.

So immediately after I told him I had AT&T I thought I had said too much already. The guy then proceeded to try and ask about what type of equipment I had, and that he was trying to get me a better deal yada yada yada. At one point he even tried to get me to tell him how much I was paying a month. I didn't reveal any of that info to him.

So long story short, this guy was screaming "con man". I notified the police and gave them a description. Never had something like this happen to me before though. I wonder if the end game was to try and eventually get into my home or have me reveal personal info for identity theft?

Anyone else have this happen to them?

I had almost the same thing happen. He also wanted to come in and see what equipment I had. I thought it was a little suspect.

 

[Monster]

Like i said, could have been a third party that works with them. Definitely a good idea to call police if it felt shady, though.

 

[Michchamp]

So I was at home today when a man knocked on my door. I answered it and a guy claimed he worked for AT&T (after he asked me if I had Xfinity, or WOW, I told him I had Direct TV). He did not appear to be wearing any official wearing AT&T uniform. His shirt did have a logo on it but it didn't look like anything related to AT&T.

So immediately after I told him I had AT&T I thought I had said too much already. The guy then proceeded to try and ask about what type of equipment I had, and that he was trying to get me a better deal yada yada yada. At one point he even tried to get me to tell him how much I was paying a month. I didn't reveal any of that info to him.

So long story short, this guy was screaming "con man". I notified the police and gave them a description. Never had something like this happen to me before though. I wonder if the end game was to try and eventually get into my home or have me reveal personal info for identity theft?

Anyone else have this happen to them?

you handled this all wrong. next time yell "GIT OFF MA PROPERTAH!" and fire a warning shot in the air.

 

[UMRules06]

you handled this all wrong. next time yell "GIT OFF MA PROPERTAH!" and fire a warning shot in the air.

Haha. Next time I will answer the door with 12 gauge in hand

 

[TheVictors]

We get this sort of thing from time to time in the neighborhood (always quickly posted to NextDoor) whether it's Cable guys, Alarm System guys or Roofing companies. I tend to agree with Monster in that some of these guys are hired 3rd party door knockers who work on commission alone, so have that motivation. The Alarm Co guys are the ones who seem most suspect and ask questions that seem the most invasive. And it's hard to tell - we definitely had someone 'case' our house while working down the street on a fence job. We were having our windows done and one of the crew told me the guy came over and looked into the house and over our fence. I had to leave the house but stopped at the fence project, rolled down the window and took a picture of the dude with my phone as I made direct eye contact with him. We got ADT soon thereafter (our dog had just passed so we lost that barking/protection) but the dude was definitely up to no good.

Another trick in our urban setting is to be a Door Knocker with a friend in the backyard. Knock long enough ...hear no dogs barking or any movement inside and the second guy kicks in the back door or looks for open windows..

knock on wood, we've been fine

 

[Michchamp]

I dunno something did not seem right about him from the get go. He only said he worked for AT&T after I told him I had Direct TV. Why would he not know what type of service I already have if he's an employee with AT&T?

I called a local ATT store as well and they said they don't send anybody out like that. She also said their employees all wear similar badges, and I didn't see any type of badge on the guy. The girl agreed it sounded really suspicious.

as monster said, some of these guys are likely from 3rd party marketing companies, paid by some local utility provider to go around and indiscriminately call or knock on doors. but also, given industry consolidation & general incompetence, it wouldnt matter... they might have your name on a customer list somewhere and in their billing software, but that doesn't mean the division of the company charged with signing up new customers has you on their lists.

we haven't had an issue with this (yet) but we do have those guys that walk around and stick flyers for shit we don't want in our front door.

 

[tomdalton22]

We were having our windows done and one of the crew told me the guy came over and looked into the house and over our fence. I had to leave the house but stopped at the fence project, rolled down the window and took a picture of the dude with my phone as I made direct eye contact with him. We got ADT soon thereafter (our dog had just passed so we lost that barking/protection) but the dude was definitely up to no good.

the guy looking over your fence was probably a salesman for ADT. The "snoop over the fence" sales method worked!

 

[TheVictors]

the guy looking over your fence was probably a salesman for ADT. The "snoop over the fence" sales method worked!

HaHaHa ...maybe!

When I did call ADT to sign up I mentioned our dog dying and his reply was the old, "Dogs aren't a real defense ...I had a dog and got robbed by guys who tossed poisoned dog food over the fence!"

To which I said, I doubt it but we're still getting the security system anyways ...

 

[wheels002]

I worked for ATT and he was probably legit sort of and let me explain. ATT hires people like this to go door to door as a third party agent to sell their stuff. You do not have to let them in or talk to them. They get paid only by selling stuff and they will openly lie to you in order to get you to sign up. Do not listen to a damn thing they say. My job was fixing the messes people like this caused. They sign people up to contracts and your bill will end up 2-3 times what they say. I hate them with a passion.

 

[Monster]

I worked for ATT and he was probably legit sort of and let me explain. ATT hires people like this to go door to door as a third party agent to sell their stuff. You do not have to let them in or talk to them. They get paid only by selling stuff and they will openly lie to you in order to get you to sign up. Do not listen to a damn thing they say. My job was fixing the messes people like this caused. They sign people up to contracts and your bill will end up 2-3 times what they say. I hate them with a passion.

Somewhat off topic and I have no idea where you actually worked, but fucking hell, AT&T outsourced all (or much) of their customer service recently, didn't they? Now whenever I call, I speak to someone from Jamaica or India. I used to call and speak with an American voice and whenever I call now, I usually have to ask for a supervisor because they don't understand what the fuck I'm saying. Once it actually got so bad that they transferred me to a department that must still be controlled in the US.

 

[tinselwolverine]

So I was at home today when a man knocked on my door. I answered it and a guy claimed he worked for AT&T (after he asked me if I had Xfinity, or WOW, I told him I had Direct TV). He did not appear to be wearing any official wearing AT&T uniform. His shirt did have a logo on it but it didn't look like anything related to AT&T.

So immediately after I told him I had AT&T I thought I had said too much already. The guy then proceeded to try and ask about what type of equipment I had, and that he was trying to get me a better deal yada yada yada. At one point he even tried to get me to tell him how much I was paying a month. I didn't reveal any of that info to him.

So long story short, this guy was screaming "con man". I notified the police and gave them a description. Never had something like this happen to me before though. I wonder if the end game was to try and eventually get into my home or have me reveal personal info for identity theft?

Anyone else have this happen to them?

What did you tell him you have? DirectTV or AT&T? You said you told him both.

If you have DirecTV he knew it before he came up to your door. He saw the satellite dish hooked up to your domicile.

Even third-party contractors have an identity badge and are going to be wearing a shirt issued from the local cable operator.

He was almost surely trying to get you pay him a cash amount to hook you up to the local cable operator off the books from the public utility drop.

That shit happens all the time.

EDIT:

Oh AT&T owns DirecTV now?

Shows what I still know.

Although it still sounds like he wanted cash to hook you off the books ilegally with someone.

 

[hungry]

The dish on your house doesn't mean much anymore. As of recently, I had 3 dishes on my house. If you sign up for direct TV or dish network and then switch, they don't even bother to come out and get the dish. They just leave it. We finally had a guy go up and take the 2 off the house that weren't hooked up.

 

[byco42]

It was a Con Man. There is a rash of this sort of thing going on. ATT people are easy to spot. They all wear the brilliant blue shirts and big lanyard tags.

 

[tinselwolverine]

The dish on your house doesn't mean much anymore. As of recently, I had 3 dishes on my house. If you sign up for direct TV or dish network and then switch, they don't even bother to come out and get the dish. They just leave it. We finally had a guy go up and take the 2 off the house that weren't hooked up.

Well even though you don't have three dishes on your roof anymore you still have one and from what you said it appears you still have satellite service.

If you have satellite TV and you switch to the local cable operator, typically the cable operator will give you an extra deal and some cash to take your dish away.

If the guy who went to UMRules house had been legit he probably would have offered UMRules a deal like that.

The fact that he was asking all the questions about the equipment indicates he was trying to figure out how hard or easy it would be to bring illegal service to all the TVs that currently had service.

 

[Michchamp]

this reminds me I need to take the goddamn dish off the back of our house. I'll do it next weekend if it doesn't rain.

the previous owner left that up, along with a myriad of cords and cables going back and forth that defies logic.

we have comcast or "xfinity" as they prefer to be known here (checks still payable to Comcast though), and it took two separate "technicians" to come out and run a cable from the box in the back corner of the yard up to our house. and they ran it back and forth along the back of the house for no reason I can understand (Maybe they get paid by the foot?). so along with the cables from the defunct dish, we have lots of cables along the back of our house.

 

[TheVictors]

We have Xfinity but our house had been a rental at some point prior to our ownership so when we bought it, there were like three different lines coming into the house. The Tech had to come back so many times, he comped the final visit and completely re-wired our house on his own time, it was so jacked up ...tangent.

Back to the OP, it's a tough distinction between a Con Man and an incompetent, 3rd party sales rep. I have a friend who went through a really rough patch for a while following a divorce and wound up helping a buddy with a roofing company. Though he lived in Mississippi, he would drive to wherever the storms had been. We have had shitty HAIL the past two days and our roof does probably need to be repaired. The Roofers know this and I expect them to be here in the coming weeks, going door to door. They looks sort of scrubby and seem to be prying and/or a scam, but they're just combing the neighborhoods as hired help, trying to get Roof jobs (which is covered by insurance, usually).

In the case of the cable and alarm door knockers, its the invasion of privacy and other uncomfortable aspects that makes them seem so suspicious. And there are definitely situations where criminals are posing as these types of workers and casing houses.

 

[tinselwolverine]

In the case of the cable and alarm door knockers, its the invasion of privacy and other uncomfortable aspects that makes them seem so suspicious. And there are definitely situations where criminals are posing as these types of workers and casing houses.

Guys going around and hooking people up to local cable for 100 or 200 bucks without the cable company knowing about it happens all the time.

Accepting that deal I imagine is technically illegal but I've never heard of law enforcement being concerned about that. Law-enforcement leaves it up to the local cable operator to do audits of their system.

The thing is if a person accepts that deal, The person does it having no idea
when the cable company is going to come by and do an audit and disconnect the service.

It might not happen for a long time, or it might happen in the very next day.

EDIT: I should amend and say at least it did happen all the time, back in the days when in general the coax went right into the television and channels were added or taken away using traps at the drop.

Technology has maybe made it harder to hook people up illegally than it used to be.