Comcast Xfinity scam emails and texts: how to spot the fake alert
Quick answer
Yes, fake Comcast and Xfinity messages are common. The tell: an urgent email or text with a link to update billing, a password or account details. Don't click. Open xfinity.com or the Xfinity app yourself, and forward suspicious texts to 7726.
- Comes by
- Email, Text, Phone call
- Pretends to be
- Comcast Xfinity
- Last updated
How it works
Scammers pretend to be Xfinity (the real company is the one being impersonated, not the sender). They send an email or text that says your account is suspended, your payment failed, your service will be cut off or your account will be deleted unless you act now.
The message links to a page built to look like the Xfinity sign-in or billing page. What they're after is your Xfinity password, your card details, or your email login, which they use to take over accounts or charge your card. Some messages hide the link behind a QR code. Others push you to call a number or pay with gift cards, a wire transfer, PayPal, Venmo or Zelle, which Xfinity says it doesn't ask for.
The FTC describes the same pattern for phishing in general: a generic greeting, a billing problem and a link to update payment details. Legitimate companies don't email or text a link to update your payment information.
Red flags
- An email or text that threatens to suspend, delete or cut off your account unless you act now
- A link or QR code to update billing, payment or password details
- A sender address that doesn't end in @comcast.net or @xfinity.com
- A request for your password, billing details or payment by gift card, wire, PayPal, Venmo or Zelle
- A generic greeting instead of your name, and an invoice or charge you don't recognize
Example message
Xfinity Alert: your payment could not be processed and your account will be suspended in 24 hours. Update your billing details now at [link] to keep your service.
What to do
- 1
Don't click, call or reply
Leave the link, QR code and any phone number in the message alone.
- 2
Check your account the safe way
Open xfinity.com or the Xfinity app by typing the address or using the app you already have. If there's a real billing problem, it shows there.
- 3
Report it and delete it
Forward a suspicious text to 7726 (SPAM). Report a suspicious email to Xfinity using the steps on its phishing support page, then delete it.
- 4
If you entered your password or card details
Change your Xfinity password and the password on any account that reuses it, turn on two-step verification, and call your card issuer using the number on the back of the card to report the fraud.
- 5
If you gave out Social Security or bank details
Go to IdentityTheft.gov for the steps for what you shared, and consider a credit freeze.
Report it
Check if your details are exposed with Serus
Scammers find your number and address on data brokers and people-search sites. Serus removes them.
Why you got it
Scammers pick targets from lists of names, emails and phone numbers that come from data breaches and people-search sites. A message that lands on a real Xfinity customer's phone or inbox is partly luck, and partly a list that matched you to your carrier, address or email. Read our guides on data brokers and what to do after a data breach. Serus finds the people-search sites and data brokers that list you where you live and removes your listings, and it alerts you when your email shows up in a breach, so fewer scammers can reach you.
More Xfinity scams
Frequently asked
Is Comcast Xfinity a scam?
No. Xfinity is a real company, and scammers copy its name and look. The scam is the fake message, not the company.
Will Xfinity ask for my password or payment details by email or text?
Xfinity says it won't ask for password information by phone, text, chat or email, and won't ask for billing information by email.
What should I do with a text I think is fake?
Don't click it. Forward it to 7726 (SPAM), report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, then delete it.
I clicked the link but entered nothing. Am I safe?
Probably, but update your device's security software and scan it. Don't enter anything on the page, and close it.
Sources
Something wrong or out of date? Tell us and we'll re-check it.