Account, payments & subscriptions

[Baby21]

I was trying to add PBS to my channel line-up and my Roku TV advised me to contact PBS at pbs.org/activate. When I went to that website, I was given a phone number to call. When I called the number, an "agent" who said he was with Roku (not PBS) told me my Roku account had expired after two years and I had to pay a fee to renew it for either another 2 years, 5 years, or lifetime and quoted fees involved to renew. Being very wary of what he was telling me, I hung up. Was that a scam or was it legitimate?

[renojim · Accepted solution]

THAT WAS A SCAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!  The fact that he said he was with Roku proves beyond any shadow of a doubt that you went to the wrong website.  I'm guessing your web browser suggested the scam website that probably looked a lot like PBS.  There's no such thing as "Roku service".

Here's the website you should have gone to:

https://www.pbs.org/activate/

By the way, only scammers would have you call a number.  No company today wants to talk to anyone.  They go out of their way to make it difficult to contact a person.  If it's too easy, it's a scam.

[andyross]

I have also seen more and more services have QR codes to give you a direct link so you are less likely to end up at a scam site.

Basically, always type in the FULL address shown on-screen, and double-check the spelling before hitting ENTER. NEVER rely on hints from your browser or a search engine.