TORONTO – Telus says a vacation phone scam that uses the company’s name to target Ontario residents is fraudulent and is warning its customers to hang up if they receive such a call.
The call features a recorded voice message which thanks the customer for choosing Telus and offers a free vacation for being a good customer. If the person stays on the line they are connected to a real person who asks them for personal information or to send money as a down-payment on vacation fees.
The scam is common, re-surfacing periodically using the name of a well-known corporation to appear credible to try and trick people into sharing personal information or sending money to a fraudster. While the calls typically have a North American caller ID, Telus security has confirmed the calls are actually coming from outside Canada. It appears the scammers are using auto-dialers to randomly call thousands of phone numbers.
The company is working with law enforcement officials to try to determine where the calls are coming from.
