Fake "Telus" Vacation Scammers calling me repeatedly

[adamd1]

Hi.

Moments ago I received yet another robocall from vacation scammers who have been calling me repeatedly for the past two years.

These scammers are criminals, and they use completely fake phone numbers as the call display number, a process known as "caller display spoofing." Today's number was (416) 898-7795, and belongs to an individual who very recently (yesterday) had to change her phone number for other reasons, and is now receiving a lot of complaints about this scam, which she alleged she has nothing to do with. She is changing her number as a result of this. You can probably ask her more yourself.

These criminals are now claiming to be calling on behalf of Telus. The pre-recorded message you get is as follows: "As a special Telus customer, you are eligible for a special offer. Press 1 to accept." If you press 1, you instantly get hold music. After about a minute of waiting I was connected to the least clear phone connection in the history of automated calls. An unnamed woman on the other end said (I think) "You are eligible for a vacation offer. Do you wish to continue?" I asked her three times what she was saying because the connection was so poor that it was very difficult to hear her say the word "vacation" specifically. She hung up on me when I told her I couldn't hear a word she was saying.

I read the following article from the Vancouver Province about this exact same scam which dates back to April 26th of 2013:

http://www.theprovince.com/news/Beware+fake+vacation+calls+claiming+Telus+connection+scam+personal/8...

In it, it says that Telus is working with police to figure out who is behind these calls.

So I have to ask:

Is there a way for Telus to identify who called me? The call was received at approx. 2:34pm today (June 24th, 2013.) Prior to this they used numerous variations of this scam and used the following fake numbers as their call display:

514-392-9122

514-392-9122

313-938-5721

0112813826532

0115143929122

202-407-3261

0011-646-630-0031

I am receiving these stupid calls about once every two days now. They don't honor any "do not call" list and they offer no means whatsoever of getting off their stupid lists.

When is Telus going to take action against this obviously scumbag, criminal company?

[ScottyJ · Accepted solution]

I’m sorry to hear you’ve been getting these calls. We work hard with law enforcement to try to track the source of these calls and prevent them where we can, but we believe the scammers are spoofing their caller ID’s to make it look like they’re local when they’re actually offshore, making tracking down their location difficult.

This scam has been around for a number of years, using different company names to try and trick people into handing over personal information or money. If you get a call like this claiming to be from any company, not just TELUS, your best approach is to just hang up.

For more info, check out our blog post: http://about.telus.com/community/english/news_centre/news_releases/blog/2013/04/26/telus-warning-cus...

If you believe you may have given personal information to a scam artist and/or need assistance securing your TELUS account, drop the TELUS Fraud Management a line at 1-877-567-2062.

Cheers,

ScottyJ

[xl · Accepted solution]

Yep, I'm getting stuff from WestJet.

Then there's the Microsoft guys who claim you have a virus.

[dobes · Accepted solution]

I am getting these calls, too, though I am no longer a telus customer. I never pressed 1 to get my "very special surprise", and I wondered why telus thought I was still with them!  Now I wonder how to make them stop. 😞

[adamd1 · Accepted solution]

There is no way to make it stop. They never take you off their lists. Now they're alternating between lying that they're from "Air Miles" or from "Westjet."

It's a fake "cruise" based out of Florida. The goal of the cruise is to power-sell you a crappy time-share on a Florida condo for something like 5 hours.

So far absolutely nobody is taking any action against these assholes. Continue to post here with results of calls. Right now I'm trying to anticipate their calls and to waste as much time as I can giving them invalid credit card numbers and frustrating them. If you ask ANY QUESTIONS, they hang up immediately. This is the most annoying criminal operation I hear from on a daily basis.

[tsizzle · Accepted solution]

What would you like Telus to do beyond working with law enforcement? They don't have any authority over other businesses or customers on other networks.

[dobes · Accepted solution]

I would like to know if people who have never been Telus customers get these calls. As I said, I'm not now, but I was until just before Christmas. If only current or former Telus customers hear from these scammers, then it's pretty clear that someone inside Telus is supplying the telephone numbers. Their recorded message did address me as a "valued Telus customer". If no one at Telus is involved in any way, how would they know that? Is there another way?

[xray · Accepted solution]

There are services that look up the carrier for a given number. They do a block lookup and use that as their calling list. The TV show Marketplace did a feature on these operations and there isn't a whole lot Canadian carriers can do about companies operating in India.

[adamd1 · Accepted solution]

What would I like them to do beyond "working with law enforcement"?!

After over a year: Anything, really. Their solution currently, from all channels, is that "you should change your phone number".

Well guess what: that doesn't work. Because these scumbags use *all* Telus numbers. The only call display numbers I see are always a Telus customer's number. They're all fake.

Law enforcement don't appear to be doing a single thing about it. They've posted no warnings about it whatsoever.

[gmemyi · Accepted solution]

So, I get these calls all the time. TELUS states that is very difficult to track these people down. THIS TELLS ME THAT IT 's NOT IMPOSSIBLE!!!! START HITTING TELUS IN THE POCKETBOOKPOCKETBOOK!!!! When it starts costing them money and customers by a boycott then see how fast this issue is dealt with!!!!

[xray · Accepted solution]

@gmemyi, Who exactly are you boycotting? This problem exists for all carriers. Are you boycotting the entire telecom sector and giving up all your phone services?

[ScottyJ · Accepted solution]

I’m sorry to hear you’ve been getting these calls. We work hard with law enforcement to try to track the source of these calls and prevent them where we can, but we believe the scammers are spoofing their caller ID’s to make it look like they’re local when they’re actually offshore, making tracking down their location difficult.

This scam has been around for a number of years, using different company names to try and trick people into handing over personal information or money. If you get a call like this claiming to be from any company, not just TELUS, your best approach is to just hang up.

For more info, check out our blog post: http://about.telus.com/community/english/news_centre/news_releases/blog/2013/04/26/telus-warning-cus...

If you believe you may have given personal information to a scam artist and/or need assistance securing your TELUS account, drop the TELUS Fraud Management a line at 1-877-567-2062.

Cheers,

ScottyJ

[xl · Accepted solution]

Yep, I'm getting stuff from WestJet.

Then there's the Microsoft guys who claim you have a virus.

[adamd1]

Now it's 8 months later, the calls are not stopping at all (in fact they haven't even slowed down) and now these assholes are using MY PHONE NUMBER as their call display number!

Telus: GET OFF YOUR ASS AND SHUT THIS COMPANY DOWN!

Do you not CARE what these people are doing to your reputation? You haven't done ANYTHING to stop this activity at all!

Angrily!

ad

[tsizzle · Accepted solution]

What would you like Telus to do beyond working with law enforcement? They don't have any authority over other businesses or customers on other networks.

[dobes · Accepted solution]

I would like to know if people who have never been Telus customers get these calls. As I said, I'm not now, but I was until just before Christmas. If only current or former Telus customers hear from these scammers, then it's pretty clear that someone inside Telus is supplying the telephone numbers. Their recorded message did address me as a "valued Telus customer". If no one at Telus is involved in any way, how would they know that? Is there another way?

[xray · Accepted solution]

There are services that look up the carrier for a given number. They do a block lookup and use that as their calling list. The TV show Marketplace did a feature on these operations and there isn't a whole lot Canadian carriers can do about companies operating in India.

[adamd1 · Accepted solution]

What would I like them to do beyond "working with law enforcement"?!

After over a year: Anything, really. Their solution currently, from all channels, is that "you should change your phone number".

Well guess what: that doesn't work. Because these scumbags use *all* Telus numbers. The only call display numbers I see are always a Telus customer's number. They're all fake.

Law enforcement don't appear to be doing a single thing about it. They've posted no warnings about it whatsoever.

[xray]

"The only call display numbers I see are always a Telus customer's number."

Of course. They know they are calling a TELUS number so they spoof a TELUS number. When they dial their Rogers call list they spoof a Rogers number. Substitute any carrier name above - it's all the same con game.

[dobes]

How do you know it's a Telus number? What gives it away? I kept my number when I moved to Fido before Christmas, and I get these calls.

[adamd1]

In my case, what gives it away is that they're all neighbors of my own number. The prefix (first three numbers after the area code) and the first two of the suffix were all Telus numbers starting in around 2003.

[adamd1]

Also: I've called some of the numbers directly to ask if they were aware that their numbers were being used as the call display for a cruise scam. They confirmed that they did know this, and in many cases said they had just switched numbers when they switched to Telus. This is a repeatable experiment.

[ET]

Hi adam1, I suggest you to read this link. http://about.telus.com/community/english/security I hope it helps.

[adamd1]

@ET (Moderator) - I'm well aware of the contents of that link. That doesn't help me or Telus investigate these malicious criminals. I trust Telus to keep my data secure. That is not the thrust of my complaint here. Your company has known about this issue for at least a full year now, and your customer base is still subjected to these unwanted, relentless calls. This is not acceptable. I don't *blame* Telus for this. But I would like to think Telus had more to say about it than "we're working with law enforcement" after more than a year.

[dobes]

Thanks, that's what I wanted to know. So even though I've brought my number to another carrier, it looks to outsiders like a "Telus number". I just found out that my roommate, who also brought his Telus number to another carrier, is getting these calls too. 

[Hippo]

We are indeed working with Police, but the investigation is from the Police. We are unable to comment on existing work being done, but would advise you contact the police for any illegal activity, as this would be the steps needed. With privacy laws, any tracing, tracking, requires Warrants, police, courts.  I agree this in no way is a good thing occurring, but we do need to follow the letter of the Law. Please contact your local police for concerns on illegal activities.

[adamd1]

Hippo, if you could contact me privately regarding whom I could contact that is investigating this whole scam, I would like to assist. This forum doesn't allow for private messaging or I would contact you directly.

[dobes · Accepted solution]

I am getting these calls, too, though I am no longer a telus customer. I never pressed 1 to get my "very special surprise", and I wondered why telus thought I was still with them!  Now I wonder how to make them stop. 😞

[adamd1 · Accepted solution]

There is no way to make it stop. They never take you off their lists. Now they're alternating between lying that they're from "Air Miles" or from "Westjet."

It's a fake "cruise" based out of Florida. The goal of the cruise is to power-sell you a crappy time-share on a Florida condo for something like 5 hours.

So far absolutely nobody is taking any action against these assholes. Continue to post here with results of calls. Right now I'm trying to anticipate their calls and to waste as much time as I can giving them invalid credit card numbers and frustrating them. If you ask ANY QUESTIONS, they hang up immediately. This is the most annoying criminal operation I hear from on a daily basis.

[gmemyi · Accepted solution]

So, I get these calls all the time. TELUS states that is very difficult to track these people down. THIS TELLS ME THAT IT 's NOT IMPOSSIBLE!!!! START HITTING TELUS IN THE POCKETBOOKPOCKETBOOK!!!! When it starts costing them money and customers by a boycott then see how fast this issue is dealt with!!!!

[xray · Accepted solution]

@gmemyi, Who exactly are you boycotting? This problem exists for all carriers. Are you boycotting the entire telecom sector and giving up all your phone services?