Scam scheme from sellers of HQClear TV antennas
We recently reviewed similar issues from Dell G5 sellers. Today’s antenna is worth a separate discussion, because scammers have slightly improved their methods of providing HQClear TV and the majority of citizens who are not versed in digital TV will fall for these tricks.
For example, we took the first 3 sites we came across where you can buy HQClear TV and examined them under a microscope:
- You are presented with unimaginable advantages of this antenna. Showing that she can catch an unimaginable number of channels.
- You are forced to make sure that the price currently in effect is right for you. Anyone else would have bought it for more money. Clearly this is a lie. At the time of writing, HQClear TV was selling for 1,200 rubles. Although it costs 10 rubles, more on that later.
- You are guaranteed that in case of dissatisfaction, you will be able to return the money. In fact, you won't be able to prove anything later.
- On most of these scams, Japanese quality is indicated as a guarantee of the operation of the device. In fact, even a child can assemble an antenna more powerful than this one.
- You will get a huge number of reviews from unknown people who will praise this device and say that it is the best
- Well, at the end, a message will be presented with some special offer just for you. For example, about free delivery or some kind of gift.
We are watching the emergence of such devices (if you can call them that) and are surprised to note that the scammers’ schemes do not change fundamentally. During the work and introduction of digital television, about 10 such miracle antennas were produced. All of them naturally did not work as stated.
How Ukrainians are being deceived online: HQClear TV T2 and Tenda Global
In Ukraine, over the past few years, telecom infrastructure and access to the Internet have been actively developing - providers are bringing fiber optics to villages, mobile operators are expanding 3G and 4G networks. The audience of Internet users is actively growing and already numbers tens of millions. Along with access to the World Wide Web, users also face new problems in the form of scammers who are actively trying to extract money from the wallets of gullible fellow citizens under any pretext.
The main task of sellers is to beautifully describe the technical and technological features of the product, which in some places contradict the laws of physics, pay for advertising and wait for buyers with money who will buy through the site.
Today, we can state two massive advertising campaigns for the sale of “dubious” goods - this is an over-the-air antenna for receiving digital multi-channel TV - HQClear TV T2 and a Wi-Fi router for free satellite Internet SkyWay Global/Tenda Global.
Free unlimited high speed internet
Elon Musk's statements about the launch of a constellation of low-orbit satellites, the main task of which is the distribution of satellite Internet, did not go unnoticed. Fraudsters immediately got involved and began to massively offer satellite, unlimited, and even free Internet. Having massively filled social networks with advertising and groups, where they talk about the advantages, delights and benefits.
The range of options may impress an inexperienced user, because they promise:
- free and unlimited satellite Internet anywhere in Ukraine;
- up to 100 megabits/sec incoming and outgoing speed;
- installation and reception anywhere in Ukraine;
- reliable reception even indoors;
- access to all sites blocked by Roskomnadzor;
- 100% anonymity;
- limited time discount.
You can learn how sweetly they make a match - from the recording of a telephone conversation with the operator of the call center of the satellite operator.
You can even believe in the miracles of technological progress and that the entire telecom industry and mobile operators are profiting from ordinary citizens, all over the world. But no. This proposal is pure deception. There are no miracles. And that's why:
1) The miracle router that scammers are offering is an ordinary cheap Chinese WI-FI router in the price range of $10-15, for home use, which has nothing to do with space or satellite Internet. In addition to the cosmic scale of the scam.
2) In order for the Internet to appear in this device, it must be supplied to the router as a signal source. If you have a router at home, simply unplug the Ethernet cable from it. Bingo! Now you have real satellite Internet at home! Everything is as in advertising. When you get tired of waiting for a connection to the satellite, connect the cable back. Similarly, you can remove the SIM card from your mobile phone. Congratulations, you now also have a satellite phone.
3) To use satellite Internet, you need a satellite receiving and transmitting antenna and direct visibility of the orbit. You can often see such antennas at gas stations, especially on highways, far from populated areas. The size of the mirror, receiving and transmitting converters subtly hint at the technological process - in order to send a request to the satellite and receive a response through it, a certain signal power is required to travel through the atmosphere to the satellite and return back without loss. For the sake of an experiment - go out into the yard and try to catch a signal from your home WI-FI router on your phone?)) Does it catch?
4) Satellite Internet is the most expensive of all types of access. Firstly, the infrastructure is in space and cannot be modernized or optimized. Building and launching a satellite costs a pretty penny. Secondly, the frequency resource of the satellite is very limited, and is agreed in advance by the operator, both with international organizations, countries participating in space programs, and competing operators. To service and control satellites on the ground, several receiving and transmitting centers are built, which duplicate each other. We are no longer talking about staff and service.
5) 100-150-200 megabits promised by scammers is the distribution speed of the transmitter of the WI-FI router itself. Access to the Internet at speeds of up to 100 megabits/sec from a satellite is, of course, possible. But not for the home user, but for the corporate one. The price of the issue will start from several to tens of thousands of dollars per month. There is only one company that sells two-way satellite Internet in Ukraine. The maximum speed available to the subscriber is 20 megabits for downloading data, 5 megabits for uploading data. Data volume – 60 Gigabytes. There is a subscription fee. The service is provided after installing the kit and signing the contract. There is no anonymity as a class. In the US, home data access prices range from $50 to $129 per month for a two-year contract.
6) The main disadvantage of satellite Internet is latency. If we are talking about offers on the market where the satellite is in geostationary orbit, then the signal travels along the chain “user – satellite – provider – satellite – user” and the length of the accumulated delays can reach 1000 ms. Which is critical for some applications, for example, games, video communications.
7) Access to sites blocked by Roskomnadzor says only one thing - the scam came from Russia and the “dealers” did not even bother to optimize site templates for Ukrainian realities. And so it will do.
1000 TV channels via over-the-air antenna
According to the good old tradition, the “scam” is tested in Russia, and after testing it is replicated throughout the countries of the former Soviet Union. In Russia, a similar antenna was sold in 2021 under the name “Aerial 2100” from the Japanese. Fortunately, the entire Internet is replete with reviews of “grateful” customers.
In Ukraine, massive advertising campaigns for the Japanese miracle antennas “HQClear TV T2” began in the fall of 2021, and were timed to coincide with the shutdown of the terrestrial analog signal on September 1, as well as the increase in prices for cable TV from January 1, 2021.
The campaign was primarily aimed at pensioners who find it expensive to pay monthly for cable TV and at people with a low level of knowledge of the school physics course and understanding of the technological processes of radio electronics.
What they offered:
- digital TV anywhere in the country;
- Japanese quality;
- access to hundreds of TV channels from Ukraine, Russia, Europe and the world for free;
- even access to the Internet.
