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Aug 26, 2023

People continue to fall for cable discount scam

The latest breaking updates, delivered straight to your email inbox. The promise of a good deal turned out badly for a News 8 viewer. The person lost hundreds of dollars after getting this message and

The latest breaking updates, delivered straight to your email inbox.

The promise of a good deal turned out badly for a News 8 viewer.

The person lost hundreds of dollars after getting this message and responding to it:

"Hi there! This call is to remind you the 50% discount offer on your Comcast Xfinity account expires today. In order to avail the discount, please call back..."

If you call the number provided, you get a very convincing message that sounds like you have reached Comcast. But you haven't.

You're told that Comcast is running a special offering to cut your cable bill in half, but you must pay your bill six months in advance.

To pay that bill, you need to buy gift cards and call back in a very limited amount of time – usually just a few hours.

The viewer News 8 On Your Side consumer investigator Brian Roche spoke with fell for the scam. She bought the gift cards and lost $665.

News 8 contacted Comcast, which confirmed the discount offer is a scam.

The company said, "If customers suspect a potential scam or anything suspicious, they should contact Comcast immediately to verify the legitimacy of the call."

Right now, this is the most common scam News 8 is hearing about from viewers. If you know anyone who has Comcast, let them know about it.