Ah, where would the world be without slimy, despicable individuals trying to scam poor and unfortunate people out of their money? Almost an accepted part of the social contract, scammers are frequently trying to trick and connive their way ahead using trickery and deception as their tools of the trade. With remorseless vigour, these charlatans can be hard to catch and nearly impossible to detect before they take their first victims.
Telus is warning customers of a new scam in which the crooks call Telus phones claiming to be from the company and claiming to offer thousands of dollars in valuable, exciting travel bucks.
Telus spokesman Shawn Hall says the company has received a number of calls over the last 24 hours about the alleged reward from the phone company.
Apparently the phone rings from a 905 number and a recorded message says “Hello because you’re a valued Telus customer you are going to receive 3000 travel dollars, to accept this press 1.”
Pressing 1 leads to a conversation with an individual that attempts to milk personal information out of the caller in exchange for the travel dollars. Telus says that this isn’t a new scam but that it is the first time that this particular bit of thievery is taking hold in Alberta and British Columbia. The 905 number originates in Ontario.
The scammers are apparently using an auto-dialler to make the calls.
In March of 2009, Telus posted a message on its website warning consumers of what it deemed to be a rise in scams. Among the more common scams were fraudulent emails to Telus.net email customers and the ever-popular credit card limit increase phone scam.
Other popular and common scams include the classic Nigerian prince email scams, called advance-fee fraud, and the overblown but much publicized “809 Caribbean” scam which made customers rack up huge phone bills waiting for “important news” about a relative or some other such thing.
Telus simply advises customers to not give out personal information to those callers that may be fraudulent, suggesting that telemarketers that are legit will “always know your name.” This isn’t necessarily complete advice, however, as many scammers use personal names and other bits of personal information to fool unsuspecting consumers.
The best advice is to never give out any personal information of value, especially credit card numbers or personal banking information, over the telephone. Responsible businesses always collect this information in other ways and have strict policies in place to not request or require telephone transfer of this information.
Scammers often prey on the elderly and other more vulnerable citizens, making the old adage of “use common sense” a tricky one to enforce given the often “professional” nature of today’s crooks. It’s always best to err on the side of caution in all business and personal exchanges of information and to leave nothing to chance. There are always safer, better ways to exchange information than over the telephone.
Did you like this post ? TheTelecomBlog.com publishes daily news, editorial, thoughts, and controversial opinion – you can subscribe by: RSS (click here), or email (click here).
Written by: Jordan Richardson. www.digitcom.ca >. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com > by: RSS >, Twitter >, Identi.ca >, or Friendfeed >
+40 (370) 986 86
{ 31 comments… read them below or add one }
Just got called on my Telus mobility by 250-930-4268 with the 3000 travel dollar scam. July 15
Ron
Likewise got one July 16
403 986 4226
I hung up.
Very interesting, guys. I’ll contact Telus and see if I can get any information on if this thing is still going on. I’ll hopefully have something for you guys by Monday.
I, too, got a call from 250-930-4268 (re: $3000 travel dollars) on July 16, at 8 pm
I got the automated phone call on my cell phone a couple of times in the past month offering Telus travel dollars. I just got it again but now they’re offering Cdn Tire travel dollars!!?!
I just got a call saying.
To claim your prize press 1
only avaIlable to telus customers.
Then it hung up on me
+40 (370) 986 86
was the number. August fifth
I just got the call, because I am a valued Bell customer – apparently. The number was 778-370-8989.
I got 2 of these emails in the last 2 days from info@telus.com
Subject line is TELUS WEBMAIL SERVICE
Scam … reasoning is if I am still paying for my Telus email then it shouldn’t matter to Telus if I use it or not and they know my password otherwise how could I log in to the system or they have activated acct. in the first place?
Dear valued Telus Account member,
This mail is to inform all our users that we will be maintaining and upgrading our website in a couple of days from now.As a Subscriber you are required to send us your Email account details to enable us know if you are still making use of your mailbox. Be informed that we will be deleting all mail accounts that is not functioning to enable us create more space for new subscribers,
You are to send your mail account details which are as follows:
User name:
Password:
Failure to do this will immediately render your email address deactivated from our database.
I also am getting calls from +40 (370) 986 86 a couple of times. Haven’t answered thanks to Game-Over posting the number. Thanks for that!
Got call on Rogers cell phone 2010.12.16.
Origin supposedly +40 (370) 986 8
(must be a spoofed number, there is no land/mobile prefix “370″ in country 40, Romania).
They’re back, calling from 250-930-4268, dialing cell phones
Just got the same call this morning (Jul 4, 2011) .. did not answer and all I heard on the message was please press 1 to accept.
Apparently they’ve started up again – I just got a call from 250-930-4268 on my cell. No voice message. (Thanks for the information about this number! I’ll avoid it if they call again.)
My cell phone and my wife’s cell phone both got called from 250-930-4268. They are using Airmiles customers winning rewards now and are dialing Manitoba numbers. I never pressed 1. LOL
250-930-4268 is calling telus numbers in BC too. Just today. Didn’t answer.
i just got called by this number 250 930 4268. i was a “winner of 10000 reward miles”
Received a call today from the same 250 number mentioned above on my BC cell (Telus). I don’t answer to numbers I don’t know, and I always look them up after. All I can say is YIKES that this one has been scheming for so long.
Got a missed call, but I am on Fido, so it’s not just Telus. However, my number is originally a Telus number, but that was 5 years ago, so not sure if that is why I got called.
I just got another one today too, July 8th. Had one the other day and told them to remove my number. Guess they didn’t listen! But it’s not just TELUS customers that its happening to, I’m with BELL. No one is safe!!
this autonomic machine pretend a Bell telephone and asking me to push number 1 claim $s. Why in Canada allow this kind of scam?
I just got the call too through 778-370-8989.
I have only been with Telus internet for a short while but I am 100% convinced from my ongoing dealings with them that the scam referred to in your article is actually coming from inside Telus, that being the outsourced employees. 98% of customer service / techs wanted to know, er DEMANDED that I give them my password, telling me that I did NOT have administrative access to my own account and that they were the only ones who had the authority. Then they wanted me to give them permission to remotely access my computer. All this before I was even able to tell them what I was calling about. They were all quite smug about it when I started grousing. End result? My accounts have now been frozen for going on a week. The professional and personal damage on this end is immeasurable. It is well known that those who blamed others for the Reichstag Fire were the ones who actually started it. This needs to be investigated before more people’s lives are destroyed because their ID has been stolen by these crooks.
got a call from telus, representing an opportunity to get a mobile cell phone what cost 299.98 but on a plan @ 29 dollars a month the celphone would be send free ,as caller was not speaking proper englishcaller said i had 57,35 so far on my billhe conned me to get my birthday driverslicence and soc sec # describing free delivery #4006 code## than he transferred me to his supervisor for confirmation of order,as connection was VERY BAD i hung up this was 1250feb15 2012,friday feb24 2012 same person called to transfer me to his superviser as connection was BAD again i said to send further questions to my adress ,assuming he has this,than i hung up what now???thanks for reply
How can the soul of these scammers sustain?
If they don’t change, perhaps an undesired fate
awaits them. What the world quotes, “What goes around comes
around”. Let’s hope they change in time.
I feel pity for em.
Just got a call from (250)930-4268 I’m a Rogers client. It’s a total scam and they call me daily.
I just got a call today from 250-930-4268. I’m a Rogers client. Looks like they are at it again
+250 930-4268. Called my Fido (Rogers) phone here in Vancouver. Jail time for fraud like this will put an end to it.
i just got a 3000 dollar scam call too from 250-930-4268
If you’ve given information to these people I would contact the credit bureaus and see what they recommend. They fish for your info so they can start up lines of credit in your name and take you for tens of thousands of dollars.
I suggest we all start pressing 1 and leading them along.
Make it sound like your interested but ask a ton of questions, act senile, sidetrack the convo to talk about your corgis or something lame. Place them on holds for extended durations. I’d say things like “oh my social? Sure let me find my wallet.” 10 minutes later, “yea sorry I can’t seem to find it. Let me call my wife/husband they would know where to find it.” then put them on hold until they hang up.
Received a call today (12:40 pm, July 13 2012) from 250-930-4268. Did not pick up.
Just recieved 3 simultaneous calls from 250-930-4268.