TELUS Warns Canadians About Fraudulent Phone Calls Affecting Both Citizens and Businesses

By: Ali Raza  |   July 17th, 2013   |   Business, News, O Canada

The rise in fraudulent phone calls is not just limited to developing countries and North America including Canada is facing similar threats. Telecom giant TELUS has already warned people in the country about such calls and has made it known that a sudden increase in phone scam was observed, as both landline and wireless customers using TELUS are being affected by scam phone calls, especially ones living in Alberta and BC. Moreover, they are also damaging businesses along with private citizens.

 

According to TELUS, “The latest scam involves ‘spoofing’, where a fraudster re-programs the caller ID signal to make it appear they are calling from a legitimate business, claiming to represent that organization. When someone picks up the scam call, the imposter on the other end of the line claims to be Telus or another well-known organization, saying the person they called has won a prize. Other variants of the scam ask you to press 1 to receive a prize. The imposter will then try to convince the person they’ve called to hand over personal information and credit card numbers in order to collect the alleged prize. This can result in unauthorized charges to a credit card or identity theft.”

 

Therefore, TELUS has warned its customers that they should not give out any financial and personal details to an unknown person or automated call over the phone:

 

“The calls are fraudulent, and in no way related to TELUS or other companies the scam artists claim to be TELUS with. Consumers should never enter their credit card information when prompted to by an unknown caller or automated call. TELUS recommends customers simply hang up if they receive a call. If unsure when receiving a call from someone claiming to be from a company and asking for information, TELUS recommends they either hang-up or ask for a number to call them back at directly ensure they are speaking with someone legitimate.”

 

The Vancouver-based telecom company is taking serious steps to deal with these fraudulent phone calls, as TELUS has not only warned Canadians about the scam, but it’s Fraud Management Centre will also help out customers by giving further information to them about the scam calls in order to create awareness. Hopefully with these measures TELUS might be able to confront these scam calls, but also bring the culprits to justice, so they could pay for the loss they had caused to businesses and people.

 

Source: TechVibes