Discussions

[courtneycakes2]

i have a hisense roku tv and it's been hacked and i can't seem to get anyone to call me back from roku.  the reason i know it's been hacked is because its serial number has changed.

these are the issues i'm facing:

1)  while the tv is shown in my account, i can't manage it because it's listed under "tv settings for roku smart home, where it is listed as a roku device with the wrong serial number, under which i had to uncheck camera feeds and dooorbell notifications.  no idea what that is all about, as i don't use roku smart home.  apparently my hackers use it with their own roku account but on my tv?

2)  in my account are siri shortcuts that can't be changed or disabled.  i'm guessing my hackers are using voice through google assistant or alexa and controlling my tv that way, as well as with their own remote.  how do i get them out of my tv?

3)  i went into guest mode settings and it said i would have to sign back into some of my subscriptions, although i haven't signed up for any subscriptions.  obviously my hackers have subscriptions to channels, but how can i detatch them from my tv?

4)  i can't deactivate one email i used in the past with my tv because the password was changed.  i tried several times to request a password reset, but i never get the emails roku supposedly sends to that email.  how can i deactivate that email?

5)  even though i'm connected to the same network on my iphone and tv, i am not able to access the tv settings in the app.  it says it can't find a roku device on my network.  and i have the setting enabled in the tv to use the app.  ??

6)  lastly, i downloaded the roku home app to see if i could see anything, and i can't.  it says to sign in with the same email i use on the device used in the home app.  so since it's not me using it, how do i find out who is if they're using their own email?  doesn't make sense to me.

on a different note, i went to roku's cookie policy at privacy.roku.com, and two companies, CJAffiliate and NewRelic state "no opt-out available."  how does that work??!!

[renojim]

Let's start at the top.  The serial number can't be changed, so I'm not sure what you're referring to.  Roku TVs probably have three "serial numbers" - there's the manufacturer's serial number (in your case, Hisense's), there's the Roku serial number, and there's a Roku "Device ID" which looks very much like the serial number.  I believe you can see all three under Settings->System->About, but I'm not sure.

Now I'll attempt to give some hopefully helpful information about the other questions:

1. If you're talking about what you see when you go to https://my.roku.com , does the TV show up under "My streaming devices & TVs"?  There isn't much to manage there other than unlinking and Guest Mode.  All of your Roku devices, I believe, should also show up under "TV settings for Roku Smart Home", but there's not a lot to manage there either.  It appears your devices will appear there whether or not you've ever had a Smart Home subscription.
2. I can't help with this one as I don't do Apple or Google.
3. There's no need to go into Guest Mode settings if none of your devices are in Guest Mode.  You can see which devices have Guest Mode enabled where they're listed under "My streaming devices & TVs".  For most people, no devices should have Guest Mode enabled.  Do any of yours?
4. Roku's email system seems to be troublesome for a lot of people.  All I can suggest is to check your spam folder and/or search your emails for "Roku".
5. Did this ever work?  It's not common for home users, but some routers have a security setting that's configured to not allow Wi-Fi clients to communicate with each other.  It is common for public networks like dorms or hotels or anywhere that multiple unrelated people are connected to the same network.
6. It's not clear that anyone is using your TV for a Smart Home device.

I can't address the cookie thing.

[BipolarCurious]

What do you mean hackers are "controlling your tv"? Like changing the channel when you're binge watching Gilmore Girls? Other than the serial number discrepancy, it doesn't seem like there is any real tissue in what you're describing. In fact,the way you describe it, it sounds like your "hackers" have added channels and subscriptions to your tv. I mean, who wouldn't want free Prime or Disney+? But if you wanna get "them" off your system (if there is a them that is there to begin with), then factory reset your unit. Problem, uh solved.

[buckeyegirl]

i appreciate your responses.  i'm using a new roku community account to reply.

if i had a nickel for every time someone discredited, dismissed, or disbelieved my hacking nightmare, i'd be a rich woman.  regarding my roku tv serial number issue, the serial number on the box it came in is 58G2151JEH14383.  in my tv's settings under "System>About" my tv's serial number (not device id) is shown as X019004VXN46.  so yes, it is possible, and they, in fact, did change my roku tv's serial number.  

also, in my online roku account under "Device Settings" is the link labeled "TV Settings for Smart Home" which opens a new webpage for Home settings.  There it says "Your Roku Devices" under which is listed "Serial Number X019004VXN46," and under that are two items with checkboxes:  "Camera Feeds" and "Doorbell Notifications" which I had to deselect.  I don't use Home services of any kind, and I don't even have a doorbell.

I was told a few months ago by a Senior Apple Security Advisor that mine is the worst case of hacking she's ever seen; however, Apple, like Microsoft and everyone else, won't get involved.

[renojim]

@buckeyegirl, your serial number was not changed.  Roku TVs have three, yes three, unique numbers:

1. The manufacture's serial number from onn, TCL, Sharp, etc., that's printed on the TV and is not displayed under Settings->System->About.
2. The Roku serial number that shows in your Roku account and can also be seen under Settings->System->About
3. The Roku "Device ID" that's displayed under Settings->System->About

I don't believe either of Roku's numbers will be printed anywhere on the TV itself and I don't believe Roku has any way to know the manufacturer's serial number (unless it's one of the relatively new TVs made by Roku themselves).

[buckeyegirl]

@renojim , i factory reset my tv and then looked at the secret menu for preinstalled channels before reconnecting it to my account.  one was Roku SDK Launcher version 1.0 build 0 channel id sdklauncher.  standard??  another one was Roku Tuning App version 0.0 build 0 channel id roku_tuning_app.  standard??  after connecting my account, the list grew by 35.   i have only downloaded 5 channels, and they are the only ones that appear on my home screen.  included in the long list are Spotify and Vudu, but i didn't download either and can't see either.  other channels in that long list are:  ACR Lib Channel, AcrAddon, AirPlay Daemon, lib-Luna, libfairplay, libplayready, libwidevine, ePop, and more.  ePop's channel id is epop-athens-Hisense-USCAMX-athens-0.1-82-6afcc5ca08d1a53407c13182214927168446d7af.   your thoughts?

[renojim]

@buckeyegirl, a lot of those are hidden "channels" that Roku would probably say are part of the "OS".  I use the term "OS" loosely because the true OS on Roku devices is Linux.  The so-called "Roku OS" is simply a Linux app.  I'm not sure why Spotify and Vudu show up.  I see both, but I think I have both installed (even though I never use either).  There's a lot going on under the hood that isn't documented and don't expect anyone from Roku to comment.  The moderators here are woefully inadequate when it comes to anything technical.  You'll notice when you check for updates sometimes it displays what channel is getting updated and sometimes it just increments the counter.  I suspect that when it doesn't display the channel name it's one of the hidden channels like Airplay.  The Hisense thing probably handles things specific to the TV like selecting the HDMI input, but that's just a guess.

[Bowloller198]

Che check with your neighbors to see if maybe they're accidentally connected to it and using their stuff cuz sometimes Bluetooth or Wi-Fi bleeds over to the next house that could be a possibility

[Tim_Hare]

The serial number on the box, 58G2151JEH14383, should also be on a label on the back of the TV.  This is the Hisense serial number for your TV  (as an aside, always use the S/N that is on the TV itself - if the TV was reboxed for some reason, it is _possible_ that the box won't have the right number).    This is the S/N you should use when you register the TV with Hisense for warranty reasons.

The Roku device number, X019004VXN46,  is, I believe, an identification for the Roku "device" which is part of the TV.  This is how the Roku system identifies the device when you look at your account online.

Roku doesn't care about Hisense's hardware serial number, and Hisense doesn't care about Roku's device ID.  They're two separate identifications, you haven't been hacked.

I suspect the 'TV settings for Smart Home section' apply because you have a TV capable of participating in Roku's smart home system,  allowing you to set whether the TV sees camera feeds and whether it shows doorbell notifications to you.  If  you don't have cameras or doorbells which participate in a smart home network then these settings will have no real effect

[Katie45tx]

I have a Hisense and am having the same issue... in the evenings only. I finally figured it out because when I logged into my router I saw a device from hui zhou gaoshengda technology was "spoofing" the same IP as my TV!!! I have had this TV for several years and everything has been fine until the last few months or so.. so I'm not sure if it's the TV or if someone has placed a device in my house from this company. It appears it may be from a cheap electronic if you look up the associated MAC ID that's spoofing off your TV'S IP... but locating the device in your house will be difficult. I tried resetting my network but it didn't help. I don't.. This is crazy....