611 Answered!

[Priority]

I just called 611 from my own Personal Public Mobile line and immediately got the Thanks for calling IVR Text but a woman answered and said 'Hello - Pre-Paid Plans' I didn't say anything and waited for the Automated system but nothing happened and I said wait a minute is someone seriously there and someone responded 'Yes this is PrePaid Plans' I said I've never had anyone actually answer when calling 611 before, she proceeded to say something about a SIM Card and Purple Activate Button (I said I'm already a customer) and then she asked for my 16 digit credit card number from my Account!! 

I asked what company is this a few times and she went silent and hung up. It sounded very automated because of clicking and real at the same time because it actually answered my questions pretty well when I tried to figure it out, the call lasted about two minutes. 

I didn't provide any personal details since I know this is not normal and is the first time in 4 years of calling 611 that this has ever happened. 

I've tried calling 611 over four times since and now it's the regular Male Automated system everytime since.. what in the world happened, did someone hack or intervene Public Mobiles 611 system? 

I double checked my call logs and It was 611 that I called so there's no way I misdialed.. something is very very wrong. 

That was very very concerning, can everyone try calling 611 and see if it happens to you?

[Priority]

I called 611 again, and after 15 odd seconds of an Air call it spoke up and said 'Would you like us to send a text to your Mobile Number ending in 1118' even though I don't have a number ending in '1118' I just said Yes to see what would happen and the system said 'Koodo Assist will now send you a text to start your conversation' followed by more silence.. I caught it on a video as well. (Like @dust2dust said, I wonder who is being bothered by these calls like who in the world did it send the Koodo Assist text to?)

@softech in this video I had Wi-Fi and Cellular disabled like you recommended and I'm using my Sisters SIM Card, so it's a different Line than I was calling 611 from before and these odd occurrences are still happening. 

See YouTube Video here 

[dust2dust]

I wonder what these recipients are seeing at their end. I wonder if one of them asking the questions was playing with you jerking you around.
I wonder if one were to get connected with one of these erroneous recipients whether one could say complain to Telus if these calls are bothering you.

[Priority]

Okay, here it is: I called 611 (65) times and recorded a 10 minute Youtube Video of the results. You could hear someone there but it was choppy at 4:20, and some other oddities. 

2:14 Begins speaking French?

3:20 Someone answers and Scoffs.

3:45 Someone is keying buttons.

4:20 Someone begins talking?

Here is also a quick Youtube Short of what happened with the beeping last night. 

Great findings @Chalupa_Batman 

@J_PM @Chalupa_Batman @dust2dust @softech @DennyCrane

[dust2dust]

@Chalupa_Batman- Great stuff! I wonder if those odd recipients are being pestered by these calls and thus the oh my dog guy.

[Chalupa_Batman]

Hello everyone.

Cause I was bored and was just killing time, I thought I'd try it myself. Tagging @Priority and @J_PM 

I tried calling 611 50 time to see what happened. Here is my log. Number 15 and 28 are serious red flags... more so #28.

Calls 1 3 6 7 14 17 27 29 31 32 40 44 48 49 50 - All crips and clean IVR

Calls 2 5 11 13 16 26 33 34 39 41 42 43 47 were all dead air calls. Timer was going as if I was in a call but dead air no IVR.

Calls 8 9 10 12 13 30 35 36 37 38 45 46 were IVR but complete static

Call # 15 was clicking and buttons being pushed and after that I heard an East Indian man talking in their language. Then when I said hello they hung up.

Call #28 was the most concern. No IVR, I could hear beeping, then I heard someone say hello. I said hello back. They said hello again. I said Hi can you hear me? I heard No No No...  I said.. what do you mean no no no... he replied... OH MY GOD... then hung up.

Oh and i got 51 text messages from 611

So ya...  I say there is something funky with the IVR. 

[softech]

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@Priority wrote:

@softech There would be no possibilities of my actual Phone Dialer being hijacked, I checked all the shortcodes and everything looks normal. I am also using Samsungs Official Calling App, not a Third Party one from the Google Play Store.

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@Priority 

this is still the possibility.  Wonder if you have a chance to try what I suggested?

1. Turn off both Mobile data and Wifi and try dialing *611

2. test your PM sim in another phone, again with Mobile data and wifi turned off

[computergeek541]

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@Priority wrote:

@DennyCrane I have messaged the @CS_Agent and was asked for all my Account Details when the Agent responded which i don't feel comfortable providing since that provides no purpose in the matter of just reporting what has happened when I dialed 611. Included below is the response from the Agent which I haven't replied to yet.

'Hi there,

Thank you for reaching out and I am sorry to hear about this situation!

I will do my best to help you.

In order to access your account, could you, please, share your phone number and the answers to 3 of the following questions?

1. What is the account's rate plan?

2. What is the account's email address?

3. What are the final four digits of the credit card associated with the account?

4. What is the postal code?

Looking forward to your answer,

Gaby

CS_Agent PM'

---

You'll need to provide at least some of that information privately to CS_Agent or they won't be able to look into your account.   This is partially why customers should be using the chatbot to open all tickets, although I'm fully aware that there are issues with that ticketing system that it causing tickets to not be submitted.

[DennyCrane]

@Priority That's how they verify you. I get the frustration when I make a non-account specific inquiry, but in your case they're not going to be able to discuss your account with you at all unless you verify yourself. I'm surprised you're not familiar with that process. It's certainly nothing to be concerned with, as they are staff and it's standard practice.

Were you able to replicate the issue with another phone?

[Priority]

@J_PM Should 611 temporarily be disabled until the comprimision is sorted, or could this be an official Announcement? Some people do not know that this isn't Public Mobile and might actually provide Personal Details to the people on the other end who are more likely than not scammers Tapping into your lines considering it happened to me 4 times with a variety of 30-40 outgoing calls to 611 I'm sure I'm not the only one getting this, I might just be the only one who it stuck as odd. 

@Chalupa_Batman Made a very good point, 'Direct messages can take hours while PM customers could be giving away their credit card numbers as we speak.'

@computergeek541 I know that Calling the Porting Department wouldn't be any help since they aren't even helpful for most Porting Issues with the lack of experience and training. - Whenever I've called the Porting Department it seems like I'm explaining to them what to do since they just don't understand nor seem to be properly trained like some have mentioned. 

@softech There would be no possibilities of my actual Phone Dialer being hijacked, I checked all the shortcodes and everything looks normal. I am also using Samsungs Official Calling App, not a Third Party one from the Google Play Store.

@DennyCrane I have messaged the @CS_Agent and was asked for all my Account Details when the Agent responded which i don't feel comfortable providing since that provides no purpose in the matter of just reporting what has happened when I dialed 611. Included below is the response from the Agent which I haven't replied to yet.

'Hi there,

Thank you for reaching out and I am sorry to hear about this situation!

I will do my best to help you.

In order to access your account, could you, please, share your phone number and the answers to 3 of the following questions?

1. What is the account's rate plan?

2. What is the account's email address?

3. What are the final four digits of the credit card associated with the account?

4. What is the postal code?

Looking forward to your answer,

Gaby

CS_Agent PM'

[J_PM]

@Priority I agree, not an ideal experience when contacting IVR. It seems to happen in irregular intervals - I'll share this with the team to test on our end. Thanks for sharing everyone. 

[computergeek541]

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@Chalupa_Batman wrote:

Chatbot works fantastic! Direct messages can take hours while PM customers could be giving away their credit card numbers as we speak. But eh...   I gave my opinion. I'm done with this conversation. G'night ya'll. 

---

Let's assume that the porting team customer care member escalates the request. Departments that handle such matters are highly unlikely to take direct calls from customers, and the best that could realll be hope for would be a call back, which could be the next day or in a few days.  The porting departments just isn't equipped for such an issue.  The fastest way to deal with issues at Public Mobile is to actually contact Public Mobile.

[DennyCrane]

@softech Good call, it could very well be a device issue. I tried calling and got the standard IVR. I'd also be curious to know if he gets the same results with all data off or with the same sim in a different device.

[softech]

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@Priority wrote:

It just happened for the third time after calling 611 over 30 times, an actual person answered and started keying buttons shortly after I started talking, something is really off. 

@softech No it doesn't show any outgoing calls in My Account for 611 or the number it reverts to.

---

@Priority

Try two things:

1. on your own phone, disable Wifi and Mobile Data, just make the *611 calls

2. check your sim in another phone, similarly, disable Wifi and Mobile Data before you make the call

[Priority]

It just happened for the third time after calling 611 over 30 times, an actual person answered and started keying buttons shortly after I started talking, something is really off. 

@softech No it doesn't show any outgoing calls in My Account for 611 or the number it reverts to.

[softech]

---

@Priority wrote:

The calls to 611 are being hijacked and stolen @J_PM, it has happened twice now after calling back a ton of times. 

Something needs to be done asap about this.

---

@Priority 

try the sim on another phone, it could also be a device app issue, maybe your phone dialer app was hijacked instead

[Chalupa_Batman]

Chatbot works fantastic! Direct messages can take hours while PM customers could be giving away their credit card numbers as we speak. But eh...   I gave my opinion. I'm done with this conversation. G'night ya'll. 

[softech]

@Priority , check your My Account's usage history and see if the usage log shows that call

[DennyCrane]

@Priority

Have you sent a message to @CS_Agent yet? Make sure to include call times. It may take a bit for them to get to your inquiry, so best to get it in the queue ASAP.

[Priority]

The calls to 611 are being hijacked and stolen @J_PM, it has happened twice now after calling back a ton of times. 

Something needs to be done asap about this.

[softech]

@Chalupa_Batman 

please understand that porting support team will ONLY help out with porting issue and no other issue.  Some people has abusd the use of this line as a general support line , PM had then removed all the posts with the porting team number to avoid being misused.  No matter what the nature of the issue, porting team will ask anyone with non-porting issue to open ticket with support via regular channels, Chatbot or direct message,  You can however state on the ticket the nature of the issue and try to ask for escalation

Again,  there is no other ways or phone number to contact PM support team, please do not suggest people calling porting support for any non-porting related issues. 

[Chalupa_Batman]

That's even worse to hear. LOL. I've been lucky in the last few days getting things answered but there are some pretty bad doozies of a CS Agents that shouldn't be agents. Just saying. 

[DennyCrane]

@Chalupa_Batman I hate to break it to you, but @CS_Agent's are call centre agents just like the porting team, with the difference being they only handle requests via messaging instead of via phone. They're all the same level of employee, albeit with slightly different jobs.

[Chalupa_Batman]

I respect both you and @DennyCrane comments. However, due to the nature and severity of this, contacting a PM employee itself no matter what level or what they do, it's imperative this information arrives in a timely manner. And if someone from the porting team hears what @Priority has to say and asks to speak to a supervisor, I think that's what's more important. Let's also face facts here. Proper channels? A CS Agent? Look how good that has gone in the last few weeks alone. I have almost zero faith in most of the CS Agents. I'm pretty sure most of the regulars here feel the same way.

[computergeek541]

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@Chalupa_Batman wrote:

The problem is there is no proper way to report it to a securities officer within Public Mobile. I would google Telus CS and call them and ask to speak with the securities office as their 611 system may have been compromised. If they refuse, ask to speak to a supervisor.  Sadly it's the only way. OR... call the porting number. I know it's meant for that but I'm sure if it's someone at PM they can get you to the right people... you'd assume.

---

Calling the porting department shouldn't be done as this isn't a porting issue.  Custoemers need to go thorugh the designated Public Mobile channels.  Calling the porting centre would result in a Telus employee who is not prepared nor trained to handle such a discussion.  I know that my next comment won't be popular, but Public Mobile is a brand targetting customers who are 100% comfortable with only using a self serve system (without a call centre).

[DennyCrane]

@Chalupa_Batman Calling the porting number is not the answer. I've seen that recommendation a couple times now, and I would not recommend that.

Calling Telus directly may work. I was more thinking just send a private message to @CS_Agent and let them handle it. They can create a ticket to send over to Telus if warranted. Ultimately it's a Telus/Public Mobile problem, and if they don't act it's on them to deal with any fallout.

[Chalupa_Batman]

The problem is there is no proper way to report it to a securities officer within Public Mobile. I would google Telus CS and call them and ask to speak with the securities office as their 611 system may have been compromised. If they refuse, ask to speak to a supervisor.  Sadly it's the only way. OR... call the porting number. I know it's meant for that but I'm sure if it's someone at PM they can get you to the right people... you'd assume.

[Priority]

I've been persistently calling back and eventually it stayed quiet for 15 seconds before speaking French now. 
I took a video how do I post it?

[DennyCrane]

That's very suspicious. I've never had a service provider (aside from my actual credit card provider) ask for my credit card number as a way of locating my account. This sounds concerning. I would report it to Public Mobile. 

[Priority]

For me it was a female, it almost seemed like a real person who had hacked Public Mobile because it was not the Regular Male Automated System that you got and like I'm getting now.

Something was very off and that was not normal at all considering it said a Purple Activate Button and asked for my Credit Card Number.

I'm trying to call from my other Lines to see as well.

[Chalupa_Batman]

I just tried. Gotta young male automated voice. Then as the voice started I got a text message from 611. Before I go any further I will say the call was not crisp and clear. It was very staticy and clips. 

Here is the text.

Thank you for calling the IVR. Did you know that you can check your Rewards, change your plans, purchase add-ons, view plan usage and so much more through My Account? Visit the new and improved My Account at myaccount.publicmobile.ca 

Just dialed it a second time and once again got the 611 text but it was much more crisp and cleaner.