Amid Friday’s massive Rogers service outage and subsequent restoration, the Toronto-based telecom has repeatedly promised to credit customers. However, Rogers hasn’t said how it will go about it, and now the scam messages are rolling out.
So, here’s your first official warning: do not click any links in any message you get about a credit for the Rogers outage. Honestly, that should be your default behaviour — clicking links, especially those received in unsolicited messages from untrusted sources, is one of the main ways that phishing scams work. People click the link and then provide sensitive information like login credentials to a fake website and boom! they’ve been phished.
Again, if you get a text, call, or other message from someone claiming to be from Rogers offering a credit for Friday’s outage, do not share any personal information or click any links.
Now getting Rogers service outage text message phishing attempts, so that’s great. pic.twitter.com/FqATmgqKFL
— Douglas Tr0n Soltys en Montréal. (@tron) July 9, 2022
So do yourself a favour and ignore these scams if you see them. Help your neighbour and spread the word. Do your part. Don’t get phished.
Of course, the thing that would most help stop these scams would be Rogers officially detailing how and when it will credit customers. Likely, the promised credits will come via your next Rogers bill — the company did promise to “proactively” credit users, which suggests people won’t need to do anything to claim the credit. Still, knowing for certain would go a long way to discrediting any scam message that goes against the official plan for crediting customers.
Update 09/07/2022 at 4:20pm ET: A new update from the @RogersHelps Twitter account clarified that Rogers is aware of scam texts about its promised credit for Friday’s outage. Moreover, Rogers says it will apply the credit to customers’ accounts and they don’t need to take action. Finally, Rogers asks anyone who receives a suspicious message to forward it to 7726.
We are aware of scam text messages being sent claiming to offer credits in the wake of yesterday’s service interruptions. We will apply the credit proactively to your account & no action is required. If you receive a suspicious SMS, please forward it to 7726 (SPAM).
— RogersHelps (@RogersHelps) July 9, 2022
Speaking of credits, there’s also a question of what will happen for customers who subscribe to non-Rogers services that rely on Rogers internet. Wholesale internet service providers (ISPs) like TekSavvy come to mind. However, reports indicate Tbaytel is offering its customers a credit, which suggests wholesalers may receive a credit that could get passed along to their customers. It remains to be seen how this whole situation shakes out.
For now, stay safe out there and don’t get scammed!
Update 12/07/2022 at 12:47pm ET: The CRTC has joined in, issuing a warning about an “ongoing scam” regarding the Rogers outage. The commission noted in a tweet that people should avoid clicking links in messages claiming to be from Rogers about reimbursement for the July 8th outage.
⚠️ONGOING SCAM – ROGERS OUTAGE⚠️
Do not click on the web links claimed to be sent by Rogers for reimbursement. Credits will be made proactively on your monthly bill, as stated by the company.
This will NOT be done via text!
Examples of texts : https://t.co/kJCk9RmHaJ— CRTCeng (@CRTCeng) July 12, 2022
The CRTC reiterates Rogers’ information that reimbursements won’t be administered via text.
