A strange and suspicious SMS from Fido
Today I received a strange SMS from what seems to be really Fido or someone with connection to Fido. It addresses me by my name and mentions my nearby Fido store. It reads: "Hi 'my name', it's 'some not very typical name' from Fido 'my local store name'. I'm reaching out on behalf of Fido. I wanted to let you know that as an essential service we are open..." Then it suggests that I should get a deal on Fido home internet. It ends: "For my store details or to opt out:" and it gives a link to some website with domain name casl.link appended with some random characters after a slash. Funny that CASL is Canada's anti-spam legislation. I didn't click on that link on the phone but on my desktop the link won't open. The webpage title shows "Dealer Information" and the webpage shows "Loading... If this message persists, please refresh the page." And that's it. This domain is registered at gandi.net https://whois.gandi.net/en/results?search=casl.link Everything is "REDACTED FOR PRIVACY" except "Registrant State/Province: Ontario" and "Registrant Organization: Statflo". Apparently Statflo | The Leading 1:1 Business Text Messaging Platform https://www.statflo.com/
The SMS came from a normal local number, not 4-5 digit short number. This number's CLEC is Iristel Inc. which is a VOIP provider. I assume the number could be spoofed. It's not a Fido number.
I ignore spam messages but this one addressed me by my name and mentioned my nearby Fido store that I visited maybe 5 or more years ago last time. My concern was why some local teenager from the store is looking at my records. I called Fido and they said it spam or phishing, they don't send such messages. I googled the name of the supposed employee together with my local store name and found a single post on Fido forums that stated "I currently live in 'my city' and I went to Fido Store at 'my nearby' Mall and ported my number. I always ask about the setup fee and the Gentleman named 'the same name as in SMS' told me..." Bingo! And the name of the employee is quite unique. I never heard such a name before, so I don't think it's a coincidence.
It looks like this employee is real and he works at my Fido store. Fido denied that their employees could send such messages. They took my information and will look into this (I doubt it will result in anything). To me it looks like some employee decided to send spam messages to Fido customers without authorization from Fido.
Did anyone receive something similar lately? Any thoughts about it?
P.S. Another thought. Fido may be essential but as I remember they were inside the mall without outside entrance. I don't know how malls work these days. They are not open until Friday or so. Is it possible they were open inside the mall all that time as the SMS claimed?
The SMS came from a normal local number, not 4-5 digit short number. This number's CLEC is Iristel Inc. which is a VOIP provider. I assume the number could be spoofed. It's not a Fido number.
I ignore spam messages but this one addressed me by my name and mentioned my nearby Fido store that I visited maybe 5 or more years ago last time. My concern was why some local teenager from the store is looking at my records. I called Fido and they said it spam or phishing, they don't send such messages. I googled the name of the supposed employee together with my local store name and found a single post on Fido forums that stated "I currently live in 'my city' and I went to Fido Store at 'my nearby' Mall and ported my number. I always ask about the setup fee and the Gentleman named 'the same name as in SMS' told me..." Bingo! And the name of the employee is quite unique. I never heard such a name before, so I don't think it's a coincidence.
It looks like this employee is real and he works at my Fido store. Fido denied that their employees could send such messages. They took my information and will look into this (I doubt it will result in anything). To me it looks like some employee decided to send spam messages to Fido customers without authorization from Fido.
Did anyone receive something similar lately? Any thoughts about it?
P.S. Another thought. Fido may be essential but as I remember they were inside the mall without outside entrance. I don't know how malls work these days. They are not open until Friday or so. Is it possible they were open inside the mall all that time as the SMS claimed?
