BEWARE: Bell Is Being Used In A Phone #Scam Related To Fibe Internet
I just got a scam phone call that everyone should be aware of. How do I know it was a scam phone call? Well, first of all I got a call from a local area code. When I picked up, I heard a message saying that Bell Canada had just completed their upgrades to fibre and I was being offered an upgraded and faster “router” at no charge. This was a red flag for me as I know that Bell has suspended their fibre rollout because they’re upset with the CRTC. Besides that, I already have Bell fibre optic Internet. So unless I have missed something, there should be no reason why they would be contacting me to swap out my “router”. More likely they would wait for my HH4000 to die. Then I would call in to get a replacement which would likely be the Gigahub. The other thing that got my attention about this message was the call quality was horrendously bad. The message was full of static and at times I could barely understand it. No telco would ever have a message that is that bad.
The message asked me to press one to get my delivery date. Now given everything that I have explained above, what I should have done is hang up. But as proven multiple times on this blog, I want to dig in further. So I pressed one and quickly got a male with an Indian accent. That’s another red flag as the last time I checked, Bell outsources to the Philippines. Again the quality of the call was so bad that I could barely make out what he was saying, and eventually the call disconnected.
Now while I was 99% sure that I was being scammed, I wanted to confirm it with Bell. Which is why I served up this Tweet to them:
While I was waiting for them to respond to this, I decided to look up the number that the phone call came from. I traced it back to the fax line of an electrical company in Markham Ontario. Thus confirming that the call didn’t come from Bell as calls from Bell typically pop up at as your local area code followed by the digits 310-2355. Though if a Bell tech is calling you, that will not be the case as they use their cell phones. And if you’ve called a tech, you’ll be expecting their call. So, why are they spoofing a local number? It’s to encourage you to answer the call because so many of us won’t answer calls from long distance numbers that we don’t know.
Bell got back to me on Twitter to confirm what I already knew:
Though they didn’t come out and say it, it was a scam call. Clearly there’s a threat actor out there who is using Bell to perpetrate a new scam. I wasn’t able to play along to figure out what their game is. But if they do call back, I’ll go into the weeds and let you know about it. But in the meantime, if you get one of these calls, do yourself a favour and hang up.
May 9, 2024 at 9:19 am
[…] that was that bad. That made me think that it might be the same threat actors that were behind this Bell Canada scam from a few weeks ago who clearly haven’t improved the approach to this scam. The second thing […]
June 7, 2024 at 9:50 am
I am very grateful for the info posted here. I just received one of these scam calls. It is your blog so absolutely run it as you please – but red text on black background is difficult to read. Frankly, white text on black background is also giving me eyestrain. Please see heading Text Size and Colour. https://www.wired.com/2013/09/flux-eyestrain/#:~:text=When%20it%20comes%20to%20color,contrast%20text%2Fbackground%20color%20schemes.&text=If%20you%20wear%20contacts%2C%20your,when%20staring%20at%20a%20screen.
June 7, 2024 at 12:28 pm
I am glad you found this helpful. A redesign of both my blog and corporate website is in the works for the second half of the year which takes this into consideration.
July 3, 2024 at 3:26 pm
I got the same call. I did press 1 to speak to an agent. An agent with a heavy accent took the call and he wanted me to go to my computer and then I said “wait a minute how do I know you are really from Bell” it got very heated then and he replied “LISTEN LADY” I hung up because I am pretty sure a legit agent would not speak to me like that.
July 3, 2024 at 4:19 pm
Anytime someone in a call centre gets that aggressive, it’s something that you should walk away from. You did. Good job!
July 18, 2024 at 2:16 pm
Complete idiots I don’t have bell and they phone with an auto caller foolishness.
July 18, 2024 at 2:24 pm
Might I ask what they tried to do? Did they try to get onto your computer or did they try to extract personal information from you?
July 31, 2024 at 9:22 am
I just got this same call. Buddy on the phone tried to get me to install AnyDesk to “check on the connection.”
August 28, 2024 at 11:44 am
I was wondering if this was a scam. Received a similiar call but it never made any sense to me. I know others that have received the call as well. Surprised Bell does not look into this and issue a warning to customers
August 29, 2024 at 2:13 pm
I’ve had a few conversations with Bell on this exact topic. The thing is that they have some general stuff about avoiding scams like this:
https://support.bell.ca/billing-and-accounts/security_and_privacy/Reporting_security_issues?step=5#step5
The problem is that there are so many of these, it’s like playing whack a mole. Thus it’s up to you to be vigilant.
November 15, 2024 at 12:53 pm
I’m located in St. Albert AB…….
I received a call this morning @6:06 am. From “Bell” offering an upgraded router due to fibre installation. First of all…. I don’t have Bell as a provider and secondly fibre has not been installed in my area as yet. Plans to install fibre are in the works probably not until after the winter. I knew it was a scam so I just hung up.
December 13, 2024 at 11:15 am
I just had the same experience, only they wanted me to go to my laptop and they could guide me through the upgrade.
February 12, 2026 at 12:31 pm
The least Bell could do is hire people whose first language is English.