Another Scam (And I Bit)

I received a call from someone that identified himself as a Directv employee on 9-24-20. He had my name and account info and told me that due to the position of one of your satellites, bad weather in our area was disrupting our signals more often. (Truth about the bad weather and the signal.) He stated that there was a software upgrade that needed to be done on my receiver to correct this by directing my receiver to the new satellite. (Sounds good, right?) THEN, he said that the software would cost $199 and I’d be refunded this amount, plus interest after 6 months. And he said that because I’ve been a customer for many years, I’d be granted a loyalty discount of $30 per month for two years. (That sounds good, BUT, the $199 didn’t sound like Directv.) I argued with him for a bit about having to pay for a software upgrade when I didn’t own the equipment, I just lease it monthly. He transferred me to “Max Williams”, who identified himself as the Tech Department Supervisor. He gave me an employee ID number of 2012 and a phone number of 970-329-1866. He too explained that the software needed to be upgraded for me to continue to receive the signal after midnight tonight. He also told me that he was with ABC Telecom Software. He had all of my Directv account information, the amount of my last payment, the date, my phone number, physical address, and asked for my date of birth to verify the account info. Like an (Edited per community guidelines), since he had all of that (and I hadn’t had my morning coffee yet and wasn’t thinking clearly), I gave it to him. THEN, he wanted the credit card number to charge the $199 to. I told him to just charge it to the existing card on the account, but he said due to security reasons, he couldn’t see it, so he needed for mr to give it to him again. Well, I did. I worked at a bank for almost 30 years, and I taught classes and wrote manuals on security, and I broke every rule that I knew I shouldn’t. Not only am I mad, I’m ashamed. And I don’t want anyone else to do the same thing. 

I called Directv and was passed around all over the place, and finally hung up on after I was on hold forever and an operator came on the line and asked who I was holding for. She supposedly transferred me, I told them I was holding for the Directv Fraud Dept., and they hung up. Maybe the first person I spoke with got enough info. I’ve closed down the credit card and changed my Directv password. That should take care of it, other than keeping a check on my credit bureau accounts. The scammer has my name, address, phone number, date of birth, a credit card number....GEEEEEZ.....