Scammers Exploit DTV Coupon Program

An anonymous reader writes "Analog TV users must purchase a DTV converter box before broadcasts go digital in 2009, and the US Government is offering $40 coupons to support the transition. The coupon program requires retailers to become certified by the NTIA (the Government body running the program) before processing orders for the boxes. Apparently the certification program is a bit lax, as the frenzy to purchase DTV boxes using these coupons seems to have drawn unscrupulous fraud artists into the mix. Memsen, via its web site convertmy.tv and its hardware partner Maxmedia, partnered apparently to pull a bait-and-switch game on unsuspecting consumers and the US Government." Read on for details of the scam claimed by this anonymous reader.

Maxmedia and convertmy.tv (CMTV) together promoted the Maxmedia MMDTVB03, which appeared to be the most feature-rich of the coupon-eligible converter boxes. The box drew public interest and even coverage by 3rd-party review sites.

CMTV quickly took pre-orders for the box, and promised delivery first in April, 2008, and later pushed the date back to May. The company immediately redeemed the Government coupons (in violation of the program rules, which prohibit back-ordering) and charged customer credit cards. Early-adopting consumers were willing to overlook these practices, feeling they would eventually own the best box on the market.

CMTV yesterday announced that they would not be shipping the MMDTVB03 at all — it would be replaced by the MMDTVB02, which they claim will have a better picture. Of course, the "new & improved" box will not ship until June. As an alternative, CMTV indicated it would allow customers to switch to an inferior box for $5 less.

Consumers are outraged by CMTV/MaxMedia's bait-and-switch tactics but are having difficulty finding out who these companies really are. Neither company publishes physical addresses or phone numbers on their web sites, and consumers have resorted to their own detective work to find the info.

As of April 8, 2008, the convertmy.tv web site is still accepting and processing orders for the "new" MMDTVB02 — in clear violation of the NTIA program rules, which only allows coupons to be applied to DTV boxes on its approved list.

Misleading summary

[Gothmolly]

Analog TV users are not REQUIRED to purchase a converter box. A converter box is needed if you wish to continue to view over-the-air TV after the transition. Big difference. It's not like Europa.

Yep

[rastoboy29]

Don't do business with internet sites that don't have any possible non-internet based mode of contact.  Like a phone number.  Or an address.

Interestingly, as an aside, all the credit reporting services run sites like that.  Which makes them pretty shady in my book.

Re:You can't be serious.

[Bryansix]

Seriously. Everybody who ordered one should just dispute the charges with their credit card company. The massive influx of disputes will make the merchant bank close their merchant account and then their out of business like they should be.

Say it ain't so!

[mh1997]

Fraud with government money? Next you'll be telling me congress wastes our tax dollars.

Nobody saw this coming?

Re:You can't be serious.

[faedle]

Problem. They have already "redeemed" the $40 coupons issued by the US Government, and it would appear that consumers are out the "money" (on both counts: the NTIA has paid the retailer, and the consumer doesn't get their $40 off the converter).

It seems doubly stupid, given the fact that a lot of people have had good luck with the Zenith converter being sold at your corner Radio Shack store.

Re:Say it ain't so!

[faedle]

Sending out $40 coupons for a $50 converter, rather than just telling people to take $40 off their tax liability and submit a receipt sounds like a good starter.

Re:Coupons eh?

[jflo]

I totally agree that there should be a public broadcasting system in place, however, I don't think that because some people can't afford a convertor box, that fellow tax payers should be penalized over a luxery preference in tv viewing.

Re:Most expensive coupon design I've ever seen

[geekoid]

Except some ass hat is going to print 10,000 coupons with someone else serial number. Then you will be crying "Why did they use paper, that's so stupid!"

The amount of money generate from fraud would far outstripped the money the coupon saved.

Re:Coupons eh?

[Waffle Iron]

I totally agree that there should be a public broadcasting system in place, however, I don't think that because some people can't afford a convertor box, that fellow tax payers should be penalized over a luxery preference in tv viewing.

And I think that if Google and a bunch of telcos pay the government $billions to make bandwith landgrabs that break my perfectly good TV, the least they can do is use some of the proceeds to compensate me for my expenses.

Re:Yep

[Urza9814]

Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Main page > About Google > Contact Us

Re:I need a coverter box????

[Anonymous Coward]

So, how does this converter box work with the battery-powered portable TV I take to the beach? How does this converter box work with the blah blah blah gripe moan

Sadly, I can no longer run my Commodore 64 games on my Core 2 Duo computer either. Backward compatibility hampers forward progress.

How does this converter box work with the battery-powered TV I used during the last blackout to get the latest news and information?

Option A: Get a generator. Option B: Wait for an affordable battery-powered TV with a digital tuner to come out. They will come down in price as production ramps up on the required chips.

So, here we are, worried about Global Warming, and preparing to fill landfills across the country with our older TV sets that will no longer work with this disasterous change-over to digital broadcasting.

So first you bemoan the converter boxes, and then you turn around and complain that everybody will have to throw out their older TV sets. The converter boxes are there so people don't have to throw out their old TV sets. I don't understand why this is such a hard concept for you to grasp.

Never mind that in poorer neighborhoods, people don't have the money to hand over for a converter box...

This is why the government is offering coupons to let people get the boxes for almost nothing. Have you paid any attention whatsoever?

Yes, 280,000 people in the USA are on FOOD STAMPS -- dude, that's 10% of the American population. Does the government know and understand that Milk is so expensive now that people can't afford that?

So your argument is essentially that people are at the breaking point, and the loss of analog television will be the straw that breaks the camel's back? You know, honestly, it will be interesting to see if you're right... but I find it more likely that these poor people are so desperate for the entertainment that television provides, they will heed the countless warnings being broadcast 24-7 right now and find a way to get a converter box.

Yes, I see riots in the streets. I see cities burning in the night. I see a country in a painful transition to third world status while the elite sit in their gated mansions with private security while the inner urban areas of the heartland turn into a war zone.

Give me a fucking break. I am usually one of the first to rail against the inequality between the haves and the have-nots in this country, but hyperbole like yours just makes it sound cartoonish at best and deep into moonbat-territory at worst. The United States is not going to descend into a dichotomy of gold-plated nobles and mud-slinging serfs because analog television is shut down. There may indeed end up being riots and protests as things get worse, but we won't suddenly be living in a recreation of Escape From New York.

Re:Coupons eh?

[BarefootClown]

The reason we get the coupons is because the Feds took the spectrum away from us (the public) and sold it at auction. Since they're turning a (tremendous) profit from forcing us to switch, the least they can do is cover some of the expenses of that switch.

Re:You can't be serious.

[pin0chet]

According to the link you posted, the top 10% of earners (greater than $103,912 a year) earn 46.44% of aggregate gross income, but pay 70.30% of total federal income tax receipts. Seems pretty unfair to me. Also, the bottom 50% (earning below $30,881) earn 12.83% of income but pay a mere 3.07% of taxes. I make $29k a year so I suppose I shouldn't complain, but someday I hope to make six figures and I am not looking forward to paying 1 of 3 dollars I earn to the government.

Re:Coupons eh?

[Waffle Iron]

They didn't break your TV, they stopped an aging service that they were under no obligation to continue

In a democratic republic, if enough people think that the government has an obligation regarding the analog TV broadcast under their control, then by definition it has one. As it turns out, they do have an obligation, and they're taking action on it with these coupons.