A woman is claiming that hackers have accessed her smart TV and that Xfinity is not taking her allegations seriously.
As a result, the woman has taken to TikTok to try to prove her case, from the immabeme215 (@immabeme215) account. The initial video she put up has generated more than 1.7 million views since going up on Aug. 3.
She begins the video by showing her TV and says, “Look, not touching nothing, and they just try to type in personal information.”
A box pops up on the TV, and the numbers 5332 appear in the input area inside the box. “Look, how do they know my passcode?” she queries. “How do they know? Now they’re just typing it in and typing in and typing it in. How do they know?”
“And I got the remote right here, not touching nothing,” she said. “Xfinity allowed my information to be breached, and now I have someone in a different country hacking my box and talking to me through my remote.”
She did explain that she’s been able to combat the hackers, saying, “I locked them out of it. Every single time they try to get into my areas that they’re not supposed to be in, I always … look, I fight with them when they try to type in my PIN, so it locks them out.”
But the caption accompanying the video indicates it’s been a personal nightmare for this particular customer.
A months-long nightmare
“My children and I have lived in hell for months,” she asserts. “My Xfinity cable was hacked. People have been typing awful things about me and kids for months. I have over 60 videos like this but worse.
She continues, “These people were listening into our personal lives before we even knew what was going on. Let xfinity know about it all and they laughed in my face. The mental anguish we went through meant nothing to them. They refused to look at my emails with the video proof claiming they don’t want to be liable for seeing it smh.”
There’s a Part 2 video showing more of the alleged hacking taking place, with the creator talking to the hackers, saying she’s recording them—assuming they’re listening in and hearing her.
@immabeme215 My children and I have lived in hell for months. My Xfinity cable was hacked. People have been typing awful things about me and kids for months. I have over 60 videos like this but worse. These people were listening into our personal lives before we even knew what was going on. Let xfinity know about it all and they laughed in my face. The mental anguish we went through meant nothing to them. They refused to look at my emails with the video proof claiming they don’t want to be liable for seeing it smh. How tf do you think we feel living it. I’ll have to post a part 2 because there is so much to the hell we lived and the world needs to know about it.#fypシ #foryoupage #xfinity #helpmeplease ♬ original sound – immabeme215
Is this even possible?
You might not think that hackers can get into a smart TV, but according to a blog from Keeper Security, it’s actually plausible.
“You can tell your smart TV has been hacked if you notice unusual activity on your smart TV, strange popup windows, changed privacy and security settings, slow performance and unauthorized access to your accounts,” its blog warns. “Surprisingly, smart TVs can get hacked just like any other Internet of Things (IoT) device that connects to the internet. Cybercriminals can hack your smart TV to spy on you or infect other devices on the same network.”
It adds, “You need to protect your smart TV from hackers because they can use your smart TV to steal your personal information and sell it on the dark web. Cybercriminals can use your smart TV to steal your personal information by doing the following.”
It even contends, “Some smart TVs have cameras and microphones which cybercriminals can use to spy on you. Cybercriminals can overhear your conversations and watch you input your login credentials to your online accounts. Cybercriminals can also monitor the online activity on your smart TV and use it to tailor phishing attacks targeting you. Once cybercriminals have stolen your login credentials, they can compromise your accounts and steal your personal data.”
Viewers share their thoughts
The original video brought concern from a number of viewers.
“This is actually horrifying,” said one. “I’d be scared to sleep at night. Can’t believe Xfinity isn’t taking this seriously.”
“I have Xfinity and was considering getting cameras for my house through them,” another person remarked. “No way in hell am I doing that now.”
“So I’m not the only one!” someone else added. “I had this happen early today and I called Xfinity they said it was nothing.”
Responding to one person who dubbed this scary, the creator said, “I had to start seeing a therapist because of the torment constantly. My kids are now scared of the tvs and so am I honestly.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to a Comcast rep for Xfinity via email.
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