Account, payments & subscriptions

[Strega2]

Could you post a picture of your locked up TV screen? 

[putz4582]

[Strega2]

Yep - it is clearly in guest mode! 

Do you see that custom guest mode message in your account at roku.com?

[andyross]

Not that it can be reliable, but the 805 area code is California:

https://www.allareacodes.com/805 

https://callfilter.app/18055006141 

[Strega2]

You should see that message under:

My streaming devices & TVs -> (this Roku device) -> Customize welcome message

[putz4582]

Nope, none of my three Roku devices are in guest mode. When this first happened on 

Wednesday Nov 22, 2023, I was actually watching tv when I got this 'blue screen of death' display.

Nobody else was home, just me, and all three tv's all locked up. Two of the tv's were off at the time.

How are these scammers locking up my tv's?  And how are they going to be stopped? 

The tv's have not locked up since last night, so far today everything is working. 

I did not call the number on the screen but I did call a toll free number in an email that 'supposedly' 

originated from Roku billing but they told me if I gave them my credit card number, they would 'reactivate' my account for $99, so yup, I hung up on them. 

[Strega2]

The screen above is Guest Mode with a custom message.  That’s why it has a checkout date.

And it has a custom Guest mode welcome message of: “Roku Acc. EXPIRED!.... 6141”.

[Strega2]

Here's a generic guest Mode picture from roku.com

[Strega2]

So, since everything is working now, and you have changed your Roku account password, then you are hopefully good.  It sounds like someone had your roku account (which is easy since it’s your email and they knew that because they emailed you) and password, which I’m guessing they got during that phone call.   So, then all they needed to do was log in, set the custom welcome message and engage guest mode, and the screen in your photo would be the expected result.

[putz4582]

Your message makes the most sense to me. How did the scammers get my Roku account password?  

Beats me, but I assure you, I gave my password to NO ONE!!  And I've never even heard of guest mode until this happened. I'm going to leave this issue as open for now, and wait a few days to see if the tv's get locked up again. And I want to see if I do get a response from Roku tech support, other than 'do you still need help'?? I have a problem ticket open with them. So Strega2 I truly thank you for your help. I guess I'll have to be diligent about changing my Roku account password every so often. Again, thank you so much for graciously sharing your knowledge with me and the rest of the Roku community.  Well done!!