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Cell phone service provider scam

BellDRock
Community Manager

on ‎12-16-2022 02:11 PM

There is currently a sophisticated fraud scam taking place where fraudsters are posing as and claiming to be representatives of a service provider.

 

The fraudsters call potential victims claiming to be from their service provider. They offer a promotion or deal so lucrative they cannot pass it up. The fraudsters proceed to ask for the victim’s personal information including their Social Insurance Number (SIN) and Driver’s License number, credit card, passwords, etc.

 

If the personal information is given to the fraudster, the fraudster passes the information on to a second fraudster who then calls a service provider acting as the customer. Because the second fraudster has all the relevant personal information, the service provider is tricked in to believing it is the actual customer. The fraudster then orders a phone which is sent to the victim’s location. After the phone arrives at the victim’s location, the fraudster calls the victim back to explain it was shipped in error and asks the victim to ship it to a different address than what is on the shipping label.

 

Moving forward, the victim’s personal information can be used again to commit further fraud.

 

What to watch for?

Be cautious when receiving calls with very attractive offers or promotions, and as always, be highly cautious of anyone looking for personal information. Companies that have your sensitive personal information will not be asking for it, as they already have it.

 

What can you do to protect yourself and prevent fraud?

  • Never provide personal information over the phone unless you initiated the call.
  • Do not share your username and password.
  • Monitor your accounts and look for unusual transactions
  • If you receive a call from your service provider, advise them that you will call them back and end the call; Bell customers can reach Bell by dialing 310-BELL
  • If you are asked to re-ship a Bell cell phone, please contact 1-800-509-9904 (Bell Mobility Loss Prevention)
  • If a transaction seems abnormal, contact the company immediately
  • Regularly check your credit reports (Equifax/Trans-Union) for any unusual activities

 

When and how to report fraud

 

 

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Comments
Rosie
Contributor
‎12-18-2022 11:35 AM

Good information to know!

 

Thanks

Anrais
Contributor
‎04-14-2023 10:09 PM

Thanks!

Lulu
Contributor
‎07-20-2023 01:07 PM

They started with that offer for me, then said they would "gift" me an iPhone 11 or iPad.  I have no idea what these things cost and had a such a terrible experience with Bell Mobility years ago that I really didn't want to move my cell service to Bell.  The hook was offering a no-penalty 14 day trial that I could use Bell, then return to my cell provider at no charge.  The gifted phone would have to be returned.  They were also going to upgrade all my home services & equipment.  I got calls to set up the technician once the equipment had been received (never clued in that the technician would bring the stuff and it would not be shipped at additional cost) - but we never got that far.  I figured that there had to be some fine print that would indicate a payback on the phone starting after the 2 year discounted period or that the gift phone would be reconditioned or not quite as described.  They ended up changing my existing cellphone package to enable them to finance two cellphones on my account and the address would be changed at the last minute so the scammers could get the phones and not have to steal them aa they were delivered.  I luckily clued it quickly to the scam and pulled the plug.  It has taken hours to report the fraud to Bell, my cellphone provider, cancel my credit card and even conduct credit check on myself, and attempt to reclaim the 2 email accounts.  One account is still in limbo, but I refuse to give up as it could be continued to use to scam my contacts.  They must use a new phone number each time because a search turned up nothing.  I think I may even have spoken with the guy who called initially (I also dealt with his "boss" a woman) in previous months, calling him out on bogus offers or offers that were only good for new customers, not long time loyal customers.  It was a complex and highly sophisticated scam.  The person calling seemed to have insider info and even the "confirmation" email had a legitimate hot link within it.  I wouldn't be surprised if the scammer hadn't once worked for Bell or one of its associate telemarketing teams.   

Almostdefrauded
Contributor
‎01-20-2024 02:50 PM

This scheme is live and well in 2024.  I was almost a victim last evening. 

Fraudster called on home phone (not Bell) and asked if I was happy with my service and offered a significant discount to retain "loyal customer".   They knew the exact value of my recent bill, my first name, an approximate pronunciation of my last name, my cell phone numbers and my One Bill account number.   It was easy to see how they may be legitimate.  Like the above post I suspect this was an inside job because of the knowledge they had.  This was reinforced when the Bell Fraud department asked if I had any recent dealings with a Bell Phone Store?  Not sure what she was implying. 

The scam went back and forth with them sending me numerous SMS validations to my cell phone.  Not unlike the Bell Fraud team did when I eventually talked to them.  I suspect now that his accomplice was relaying my verbal responses to a Bell agent on another line that was getting spoofed.  The trigger for me came when I received an automated message from Bell that my email address on the account had been changed.   The fraudster said this was normal while the "back office" processed the credit.  At that point I got on my computer and contacted Bell via the online chat service.  Once the fraudster call ended the real Bell agent contacted me by phone and transferred me to the fraud department.    

They cancelled the order for two new phone that had been placed by the fraudster and his accomplice, reset my account and all seems good.  Bell advised that fraudsters scheme would have been to redirect the delivery as described above and they advised to call BELL if per slim chance that the phones actually arrive at our house to call Bell for instructions and not to follow any direction received by phone.    

BELL the moral of the story for you folks is that the SMS messaging you use for validation obviously has a work-around that these folks are exploiting.  The SMS to the phone should not be a bypass to the password or PIN on the account.   If they asked for a PIN or a Password the red lights would go off immediately.      

New rule in our house is that  we will only validate by SMS if we have initiated the call to the service provider in the first place.  Close call and thanks to Bell Agents for me not becoming a statistic.