(WJW) – The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is warning people about a scam targeting Roku users.
Complaints about CaliGeeks, Inc. have been filed in 25 states.
Customers told BBB that CaliGeeks misled them into paying unnecessary fees to activate their Roku devices.
CaliGeeks has received 45 complaints in the last year.
Customers attempting to activate their Roku streaming devices and Roku-enabled smart televisions said that, after seeing an error message, they were directed to call CaliGeeks.
According to BBB complaints, once customers called CaliGeeks, representatives of the company posed as authorized agents or employees of Roku, Inc.
Customers said they were charged an unnecessary activation fee ranging from $79.99 – $249.99 and were led to believe that this fee was required to enable their Roku device.
“During the setup of a new smart TV, I was scammed by a ‘look-alike’ fraudulent company,” said a complainant from Mansfield, Ohio. “I am a trusting person … but situations like this really hurt society.”
Roku, Inc., confirmed on its website that there is no activation fee to initiate service.
Roku specifically advises against paying any fees to enable their devices and suggests that customers ignore any requests to do so.
If you paid a third-party to activate or access your Roku streaming device, here’s what you can do:
- If you see an error message, make sure that you are calling Roku and work with them directly.
- If you believe that you have interacted with a fraudulent website, email Roku at customer.advocate@roku.com.
- Call your credit card company to request that charges be reversed.
- Check your bank and credit card statements for inaccuracies.
- Remove any software that the third party may have installed on your devices and run a malware scan.
- Change any passwords for programs that you used on these devices, including the password to access your Roku.com account.
- File a complaint with BBB.
- File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.
- Include the following information in any complaint: the website address of any fraudulent websites, phone numbers that you were prompted to call and details about how you were approached to pay the fee to install your Roku device.