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Scammers Lower Comcast Bills, Get Jail Time

Posted by Unknown on from the no-one-weeps-for-comcast dept.

An anonymous reader writes with news about a scam with a twist. The scammers purchased login details to internal Comcast systems from an employee using them to lower the bills of Comcast customers, for a price. "Alston Buchanan, the mastermind of a two-man scam to lower the bills of Comcast customers for a price, pleaded guilty last week and awaits sentencing. His accomplice, Richard Justin Spraggins, who also pleaded guilty in February, will serve 11-23 months in prison and pay Comcast $66,825. Their operation purportedly cost Comcast $2.4 million, and Comcast claims that the loss has forced them to raise the rates on all their customers. However, the allegedly huge financial loss went undetected until a Comcast customer reported his/her suspicions to Comcast customer service."

13 of 103 comments (clear)

  1. Something smells fishy here by penix1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    His accomplice, Richard Justin Spraggins, who also pleaded guilty in February, will serve 11-23 months in prison and pay Comcast $66,825. Their operation purportedly cost Comcast $2.4 million, and Comcast claims that the loss has forced them to raise the rates on all their customers. However, the allegedly huge financial loss went undetected until a Comcast customer reported his/her suspicions to Comcast customer service."

    So supposedly they lost $2.4 million yet the fine for one accomplice is is only $66,825??? And of course Comcast uses this incident as an excuse to raise the price on everyone including the fool that reported it... I guess the old adage "no good deed goes unpunished" applies here.

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    1. Re:Something smells fishy here by gl4ss · · Score: 3, Interesting

      the guy who did the internal investigation and lawyer costs... 2.4 million. I guess they're claiming that they don't know which discounted rates were legit and which were purchased so they removed the discount backdoor from the system. that's a bit fishy if they had used it for discounting feature for people who had suffered from service outages etc...

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    2. Re:Something smells fishy here by gsslay · · Score: 3, Insightful

      they lost $2.4 million yet the fine for one accomplice is is only $66,825???

      You want to know the definition of pointless? Fining someone more money than they actually possess. You could demand $2.4 million if it makes you feel better, but you ain't getting it.

      "the fool that reported it"

      Some of us might like to think of "the fool" as "the honest individual". I guess it depends on the quality of your moral compass.

    3. Re:Something smells fishy here by Entropius · · Score: 5, Insightful

      When dealing with Comcast my moral compass doesn't read accurately because of all of their bullshit.

    4. Re:Something smells fishy here by Charliemopps · · Score: 4, Informative

      Apparently you've never been to court. The judge sure as hell doesn't care how much money you have or if you'll ever be able to repay it. I've had a large settlement against a guy since the early 90s (he broke into my house while drunk and destroyed everything I owned at the time.) He sends me about $50/yr because, even 20yrs later he's still a looser and in and out of jail. The only reason he sends me anything is because he's basically constantly on parole and they make it a condition. I could sue him, but that would be an exercise in futility and cost me thousands. But, the point is, when he lost the original case, the judge had no problem fining him for the actual damages, even though there was basically never a way for him to pay it off unless he won the lottery.

  2. Forced them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Forced them to raise the rates on all their customers"

    Literally everything forces them to raise their rates.

    1. Re:Forced them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Literally everything forces them to raise their rates.

      Damn... You just forced them again with your comment! STOP!!!!

    2. Re:Forced them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      these lucky 6000 customers were probably paying what they **would have been paying** had government regulation still existed with regards to cable tv rates. deregulation is not necessarily a good thing, especially in areas where there is virtually zero built-in competition for wireline coax-delivered services.

  3. Small time crooks by Bender+Unit+22 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    As we know, only small time crooks get jail time.
    Their error was that they didn't operate out of Wall Street.

  4. A brief message from Comcast by wjcofkc · · Score: 3, Funny

    http://www.funnyordie.com/vide...

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  5. Re:Irrelevant??? by Karmashock · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm not justifying the theft, asshat. I'm pointing out that that its such a tiny blip in their expenses that it doesn't justify an across the board price increase.

    For example... lets say I own a sandwich shop. And one day, my father comes to visit my sandwich shop and I give him a free sandwich. That means my shop made less money per sandwich sold then it would have if I had made my father pay for his sandwich.

    Will I now have to increase prices on all my sandwiches to cover this expense?

    Obviously fucking not.

    Thank you for arriving on the same page I was reading from. I am NOT justifying the theft. I am saying rather that Comcast has billions in revenue... 2.4 million lost here or there spread across the whole subscriber base wouldn't add so much as a PENNY to the cost of the average user.

    Not one fucking cent.

    So comcast on that note can blow it directly out their ass. Were they robbed? Yes. Is that bad? Yes. Do I approve of robbery? No. Do I think Comcast is a terrible company that should get ripped apart why wolves? Yes. Will I release those wolves on it to do just that? No. Will I clap and giggle should that happen? Yes.

    Just what is, my bucko.

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  6. the base rate IS regulated by the LFA government by raymorris · · Score: 3, Informative

    The basic cable rate IS set by the government agency that issues the franchise (legally forced monopoly). That's known as the LFA. Until 1996-1999, the FCC mostly set that rate, now it's primarily set by the LFA.

    During the period of double regulation, 1992-1999, rates increased at 5.6% per year. Once the FCC stepped aside, that was reduced to 4.6%.

    So knowing that having Washington bureaucrats set rates increases them, what reduces rates? Rates are 22%-30% lower in areas with competition.

  7. I have no problem with this by neminem · · Score: 3, Insightful

    When I read the title, I was like, holy crap, someone got sent to jail for tricking Comcast into giving them a lower rate? That's a new low.

    But no, after reading the whole description - while I have absolutely no sympathy for Comcast whatsoever, that definitely sounds like a legitimate crime that deserves jail time, even if the victims of the crime are also scum who deserve getting ripped off.