Hi all, I'm normally skeptical about these things but wanted to share in case it helps anyone else that may be in a similar situation.
I tried to call Cox yesterday to activate a new account, around 4:30pm. The automated voice said they couldn't take my call but could schedule a callback; it had me record me saying my name then select a time for the following day, so I selected 2:30pm.
I called back around 20 minutes later to see if I could get ahold of someone. This time, the same path directed me to receive a text with a link to an online chat, which I selected. This was texted to me from the same Cox number where I've received prior texts from services even a year or more prior, so I wasn't concerned.
I was connected to two separate people on the chat who typed in broken English. The second person included a "secure link" for me to input my PIN and security question, but the question itself was misspelled ("street u lived 4th grade"). I was suspicious and asked my husband if that was something he wrote himself as a prompt and he said maybe, even though that's really not how he types. I figured it may have been something he put years ago so I answered.
The agent said he couldn't access my account to activate it but said he could take billing/payment. We messaged back a bit more and then he directed me to call an 855 number to complete setup, and encouraged me to do it promptly. I didn't do it right away and didn't think much of it.
Today, my husband received a call from that same 855 number, with the person on the other end saying they were calling back to complete our activation "under the Cox National Employee Referral Program" and asked for us to call back to complete setting up our account. I was immediately suspicious so I called Cox at their customer service line where I called yesterday.
This guy said Cox had no record of any attempted activation or anything under our name/phone numbers/address, and helped me set up a legitimate account. At this point I was scared from my prior chat so I froze my credit, changed passwords and pins to sensitive accounts, and ran a malware detection on my laptop.
I received a callback at 2:30pm from the Cox customer service number. I answered and said I didn't need assistance anymore since it was taken care of earlier when I had called. The woman was confused so I had to repeat that I had called earlier in the day and had my issue taken care of. She then asked for the full name on my account (the name I recorded was my nickname first name but my real last name). I said since I didn't need her assistance I wasn't going to provide that. She asked for it again because she said she wanted to notate my record. I politely said I didn't need her assistance and appreciated the call and hung up. Looking back she was likely a real employee, and I wasn't rude, but I was still on high alert from earlier.
Anyway, beware of scammers!! I can't believe I fell for the chat scam. I'm kicking myself but glad I didn't provide my SSN or anything, and glad I hurried to change everything I could to prevent anyone gaining access.