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Cellular Phone Forum / Providers / Sprint PCS / February 2006Sprint being hacked!!!
I just received an automated message from a female synthesized voice claiming to be a sprint representative. This robotic voice informed me that my Sprint account was overdrawn and my phone service was about to end. I was then instructed to enter my credit card number! S. > I just received an automated message from a female synthesized voice > claiming to be a sprint representative. This robotic voice informed me > that my Sprint account was overdrawn and my phone service was about to > end. I was then instructed to enter my credit card number! How do you figure this is a "hack?" Notan >> I just received an automated message from a female synthesized voice >> claiming to be a sprint representative. This robotic voice informed me >> that my Sprint account was overdrawn and my phone service was about to >> end. I was then instructed to enter my credit card number! > > How do you figure this is a "hack?" These days, it could very well be a "phish" from someone trying to steal credit card information. I was late enough, with Sprint PCS, that we got turned off once or twice in the roughly four years I was a customer. But we never got calls, at least not that I recall. We did get text messages to our phones saying that the serevice was temporarily suspended. That's not to say that Sprint doesn't make such calls, just that I don't remember receiving them. If you get a call like this and think it MIGHT be legitimate, don't give out any info to the person calling. Dial 888-211-4PCS or *2 and talk to someone you KNOW works for the company. That goes double for bank and credit accounts. :)  SignatureSteve Sobol, Professional Geek 888-480-4638 PGP: 0xE3AE35ED Company website: http://JustThe.net/ Personal blog, resume, portfolio: http://SteveSobol.com/ E: sjsobol@JustThe.net Snail: 22674 Motnocab Road, Apple Valley, CA 92307 That's what I would do... > If you get a call like this and think it MIGHT be legitimate, don't give out > any info to the person calling. Dial 888-211-4PCS or *2 and talk to someone > you KNOW works for the company. That goes double for bank and credit > accounts. :) > That's what I would do... > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >> you KNOW works for the company. That goes double for bank and credit >> accounts. :) And how do we know that is the correct number and not some bogus phishing call center? Not that I doubt you, but to be safe, anytime you are initiating the call, it is important to know you have the correct number. BH >> That's what I would do... >> [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > And how do we know that is the correct number and not some bogus phishing > call center? Maybe because they are the numbers listed on the Sprint website? >>> If you get a call like this and think it MIGHT be legitimate, don't give >> out [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > Not that I doubt you, but to be safe, anytime you are initiating the call, > it is important to know you have the correct number. I was the one who gave the numbers. No offense taken. *2 is a special dialing code that works only from Sprint handsets, so that's a pretty good guarantee even if you aren't 100% sure that the tollfree I gave is the right number. SignatureSteve Sobol, Professional Geek 888-480-4638 PGP: 0xE3AE35ED Company website: http://JustThe.net/ Personal blog, resume, portfolio: http://SteveSobol.com/ E: sjsobol@JustThe.net Snail: 22674 Motnocab Road, Apple Valley, CA 92307 > And how do we know that is the correct number and not some bogus phishing > call center? Because *2 from your Sprint PCS phone WILL reach the call center. Unless Sprint IS being hacked, in which case your account is probably the least of their problems, anyway. SignatureE-mail fudged to thwart spammers. Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply. > That's not to say that Sprint doesn't make such calls, just that I don't > remember receiving them. Sprint does NOT make such calls. In fact, I don't think any of the carriers do unless your phone has long been shut off and you've been sent to collections. In which case, you're probably already aware of the problem anyway, and have also gotten the requisite threatening letters, too. What cell carriers (including Sprint) WILL do to a badly overdue/overextended account is "hotline" the phone. When you're hotlined, the next outgoing call you make on the phone will be blocked and you'll instead be transferred straight to customer care, who will let you know of the situation and "encourage" you to make payment. But AFAIK, *you* have to make some kind of outgoing call first; they never originate a call to let you know. > If you get a call like this and think it MIGHT be legitimate, don't give out > any info to the person calling. Dial 888-211-4PCS or *2 and talk to someone > you KNOW works for the company. That goes double for bank and credit > accounts. :) Good advice. SignatureE-mail fudged to thwart spammers. Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply. >> That's not to say that Sprint doesn't make such calls, just that I don't >> remember receiving them. > > Sprint does NOT make such calls. Actually, they do. They do make these automated calls now, but I would still never trust an incoming call asking for credit card info. I would hang up and then dial back *2 for customer care and handle it that way. Too many people out there pulling scams these days to trust incoming calls, so I HIGHLY recommend calling back to customer care. >>> I just received an automated message from a female synthesized voice >>> claiming to be a sprint representative. This robotic voice informed me [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > you KNOW works for the company. That goes double for bank and credit > accounts. :) > I just received an automated message from a female synthesized voice > claiming to be a sprint representative. This robotic voice informed me > that my Sprint account was overdrawn and my phone service was about to > end. I was then instructed to enter my credit card number! > > S. Um...people...does anybody remember Sprint's "text-to-voice" feature? If you check, that feature is still active. I sent a text message to my landline phone just yesterday from my cellphone just to test it out, and sure enough when I answered "hello?" Sprint's synthetic voice told me that it was a text to speech message (something similar to that) and then said the message I had input. (and then the voice goes on to say other things about the caller and appropriate items. My point here is that you *may have* very well been the target of a phisher, wanting your credit card info by using the text to voice feature of Sprint, and claiming to be a Sprint representative. Like many other posters have said... NEVER and I mean *NEVER* give out that kind of information to a caller that's called *you*! Even though the caller claims (and I say that loosely) to work for Sprint. Always ask for I.D. or some other form of credentials FIRST! P.T. Barnum (of Barnum & Bailey's Circus) once said "There's a sucker born every minute" That's a strong philosophy that I live by and think about everyday. I think about the way other people "prey" on the *sucker* I just mentioned. And you want to know the truth???? People *still* fall for these new kind of scams all the time. It's a sad...sad...sad world we all live in. Use your head and PLEASE use common sense. Sorry about the caps and shouting and things. I'm just another user fed up with all the bull**** that's out there. I know that there's not much you & I & the next person can do about it, but if you just use plain 'ol common sense, you should be allright. Enough said. |
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