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Digital Cable TV Descrambler
Auction sites are flooded with sales of so-called “Universal digital
Cable TV descramblers.” For a small price, buyers are told, they
can see all the pay-per-view sports and movies they want. Free
boxing, free Playboy, all for $10. Needless to say, there’s a
very big catch.
THE
DEVICES, which look like small coaxial cable couplers, actually
do work — but only for a short while. In a twist, would-be pirates
end up feeling cheated when they are stuck with big cable bills.
“Plug
into your cable box and receive PPV movies,” shouts one of the
hundreds of ads now on (deleted). “WWE wrestling events! Boxing
& sporting events. Adult / Playboy / Spice channels. If you
can order PPV through your remote, then this filter will work
for you!”
Prices
for the devices, which are also available at local electronics
stores, have plummeted since they first appeared some two months
ago for around $200. Now, they are selling for around $10.
HOW THEY WORK
The filters temporarily delay billing of pay-per-view
selections because they block two-way communication with the cable
company. When a movie or sporting event is ordered, a signal is
sent from the customer’s set-top box to the cable firm’s billing
computers. The filter allows the unscrambled signals to stream
to the TV set, but prevents that transmission back to the cable
company, said Nilda Cid, assistant director of the Office of Cable
Signal Theft at the National Cable & Telecommunications Association.
But
only for a few days. Every two or three weeks, cable firms “poll”
the boxes, and if they don’t reply, they are shut off.
“And
(cable firms) know where the box is,” she said.
Making
matters worse, the box also stores all pay-per-view orders that
haven’t been transmitted. So some customers end up with very large
cable bills, she said.
Word
is slowly getting out.
“A
lot of people are being victimized through this type of scam,”
said Matt Race, a buyer who contacted MSNBC.com.
Race
even posted a fake ad on (deleted) to warn other would-be pirates.
“I
am selling advice. Today it is free. If you don’t listen it could
cost you,” the ad says. “Do not buy ... or you will be wasting
your money. I do not work for the cable company. Don’t be the
next one who ends up with a huge cable bill.”
E-mails
sent to several dealers of the device weren’t returned.
Cid
said the filter would appear to work for anywhere from seven to
21 days, based on how often the cable system checks its customers’
set-top boxes for a response. She wasn’t particularly sympathetic
to those who get “cheated” by purchasing the device.
“The
problem here is consumers conveniently don’t employ common sense,”
she said. “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”
© 2004 MSNBC Interactive
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