How to avoid becoming a victim of scammers when switching to digital TV

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

The main schemes of attackers that you need to know about yourself and tell your older relatives.

Why scammers have intensified

Russia has been preparing for the transition to digital TV for a long time, and now the X year has come. Since February 11, Magadan, Penza, Ryazan, Tula, Ulyanovsk, Yaroslavl regions and Chechnya have switched to digital. From April 15, 20 more regions will join the list. In the rest, digital TV will finally work from June 3.

Any transition period is usually a good time for fraudulent activity. The transition to digital was no exception.

How does the transition to digital TV take place?

Analog TV is broadcast in the meter range, digital terrestrial TV - in the decimeter range. To receive a signal, the TV must be equipped with a DVB-T2 tuner. Most modern TVs released after 2012 have it. Their owners will not notice the changes - unless they watch programs and films in better quality than before. And many have already been receiving a digital signal for a long time.

If you are watching analogue TV, the letter “A” appears next to the channel logo. If it is not there, you have already switched to "digital".

Older units may not have a tuner - they are adapted for receiving a digital signal with a set-top box supporting the DVB-T2 standard.

How scammers cheat people

The process of switching to digital TV looks so simple that some citizens have doubts whether this is really the case. This, as well as human gullibility, is used by malefactors.

Therefore, you need to know the basic schemes of scammers' work and be sure to warn older relatives about them - it is they who are at risk in such cases.

Renewal of the contract

Fraudsters go around apartments and tell them that it is necessary to renegotiate an old agreement or draw up a new one in order to switch to digital television. If this is not done, the TV will not show at all. Naturally, they take money for drafting papers.

There is also an additional pitfall here. When making calculations, attackers can write off data from a bank card and then withdraw all the money from it.

What actually:no contracts need to be signed. The transition to digital TV is free.

Sale of consoles at exorbitant prices

Fraudsters do not even allow to figure out whether a person needs a prefix at all. In their opinion, it is definitely needed, and you can buy it from them. And only today and only now with huge discounts and only for 10-15 thousand rubles. After a long and persistent presentation, the victim's hand reaches for the wallet on its own.

What actually:it is likely that such a set-top box will work properly, and the person will even be happy with a bargain. But the bitter truth is that equipment worth about 1,000 rubles is enough to receive a digital signal. It is sold in Russian Post offices and electronics stores.

There are devices and more expensive, but the price increases due to additional options: the ability to record programs on the drive, the presence of a clock, an alarm clock, and so on.

Sale of conventional consoles under the guise of specialized

Fraudsters sell an ordinary set-top box with support for the DVB-T2 standard under the guise of an aggregate that will receive several hundred channels. Money floats away, but there are no more channels available

What actually:now two packages of all-Russian compulsory public digital television channels have been formed. The first included:

1. First channel.
2. Russia 1.
3. Match TV.
4. NTV.
5. Channel 5.
6. Culture.
7. Russia 24.
8. Carousel.
9. Public television of Russia.
10. TV Center.

If it was decided to include information and development channels in the first multiplex, then entertainment channels in the second. It was formed on a competitive basis, and now it includes:

1. REN TV.
2. Saved.
3. STS.
4. Home.
5. TV-3.
6. Friday!
7. Star.
8. Peace.
9. TNT.
10. Muz TV.

These 20 channels are public and free. To access the rest, the miracle console is not enough. You will have to conclude an agreement with the company that broadcasts them and pay a subscription fee.

Transfer tax

Leaflets are scattered in the mailboxes with the indication of the requisites to which a certain amount must be transferred as a tax for the transition to digital TV. Less lazy crooks go from door to door with the same demand.

As a matter of fact: you don't have to pay anything.

Help from the state

Attackers come in person or call by phone and say that a citizen is entitled to financial assistance from the state to buy a set-top box for the transition to digital TV. Further events can develop according to several scenarios. The most common ones are:

1. The scammers say that the subsidy is 1,000 rubles, but they only have a five-thousandth bill, and they ask the person to give change. He gives 4,000 real rubles and stays with a joke bank ticket.
2. Attackers receive card data from the victim (or even take the card itself) and then withdraw money from it.

What actually: aid from the state is really required, but not for everyone - the exact list of categories of citizens to whom compensation will be paid and in what amount is approved by the regional authorities. To get it, you need to contact the center for social protection of the population. Nobody will come and impose money on you from the state.

Compensation is paid after the purchase of the equipment - you will need to confirm the purchase of the set-top box by checks.

Things to Remember

1. There is no need to pay for the transition to digital TV.
2. Before buying a set-top box, find out if your TV has a DVB-T2 tuner. If so, then there is no need to spend money.
3. The set-top boxes are sold in stores at an affordable price. If someone brings it to your home, it's suspicious.
4. For compensation from the state, you need to apply only to the social protection authorities.