We are sorry to see you are experiencing this @precious23. Please reach out to us to go over the charges, you can contact us here.
Hello @Gottabmxd26,
Welcome to the community!
I'm sad to hear about your experience as this definitely isn't what we aim to provide you with. If you haven't made these calls, well you shouldn't be charged.
Feel free to reach out via these methods and we'll be happy to help.
Hello again,
@Gottabmxd26 wrote:
...There are scammers out there hijacking the technology to make it look like the calls are coming from us....
Spammers/scammers have been spoofing phone numbers for a while now. While spoofing would make calls look like they are coming from our phone numbers, the calls are not actually made via our SIM cards. As mentioned in my reply to your other post here, mobile providers would only charge for usage via your SIM card. That is, calls which are made spoofing your phone number are not charged to you.
I don't think it's possible for an incoming call to be registered as an outgoing call. There have been some scams (ie One-ring) which rely on getting victims to return calls. However, a potential victim needs to return the call in order to be scammed.
@Gottabmxd26 wrote:
...they don't do that anymore as of November 2021.,...
I don't know for certain to what that refers, however, customers at one point did get charged long-distance for receiving calls outside of their local calling-areas (LCAs). Since most plans now include Canada-wide calling, there are no longer long-distance charges for incoming calls received anywhere in Canada. That could be what they meant.
Hope this helps 😀
Cheers
Hey @CIREGNUK
Are you an authorized contact on your father's account? If you are, you can contact us using these methods so we can take a closer look.
Good morning ms40, wow that's a lot of long distance charges. If you live close to a Fido store or kiosk maybe the customer service reps can help you with tracking down the time of day the calls were made and then maybe figure it out. I wonder if they can check for something called sim cloning or swapping. The locations the calls were initiated from using their data analysis. I'm pretty sure one of the mods will reach out to you on this and help track it down. I wish you luck and some fine sleuthing help.
Hello Ms40,
Welcome to the community!
Sorry to hear you've received that awful surprise on your bill. I understand that you might not have intended on making those calls. However, if the calls are on the system, they would have been made using your SIM card. What phone do you have? Is it a smartphone? It's possible that the phone has been infected with some sort of virus or malware. Charges for unknown calls is a rather common symptom of infected devices (see here).
If you do have a smartphone, you might consider running a virus and/or malware checker to see if your device has been infected. Unfortunately, some viruses/malware have been designed to fool anti-virus software. If antivirus and anti-malware app fail to remove viruses, it might be necessary to perform a factory reset of the device. However, even doing so might not remove all viruses (see here and here). It depends on what part of the device the virus was able to infect (see here). If they are able to identify the virus, there might be more effective means of removing it.
Hope this helps 😀
Cheers
Hello again,
Thank you for the additional information. However, iPhones are not immune from the issue making random calls (see here, here, here, here, here, here, etc). It appears as though the issue is rather long-standing. That would be an Apple issue rather than a mobile provider issue. Yes, if the issue is not adddressed, it is entirely possible that they could happen again. Customers are responsible for the actions of their phones -- even if they weren't aware of its actions. As mentioned in my reply to your other post, it's not really possible to make calls on your account without your SIM. It's also rather unlikely that your SIM might have been cloned. In order to clone a SIM, they would need access to your SIM.
Mobile providers will just transmit what a customer's phone initiates. It the phone sends a text message, the provider will transmit that text message. If the phone makes a call, the provider will connect that call. The mobile providers cannot connect calls which were not initiated by a customers' phone. If there is a glitch in the iOS software causing those randmom calls (or virus/malware in android), mobile providers can't know those calls were not intended. Why would it be the mobile providers' responsibility for those charges, if any?
I'm sorry if this reply seems harsh. However, having a smartphone does not come without responsibilities. There are basic phones which can be used for emergencies and are not susceptible to OS glitches or viruses/malware.
I do understand your situation. If you are unable to pay that amount in full, you might consider contacting Fido's Credit Operations department to arrange a payment arrangement.
Hope this helps 😀
Cheers
Hello Gottabmxd26,
Welcome to the community!
I understand you have checked out a couple of those links. However some of those links do include references to calling numbers not in a device's contact list:
~taken from link above.
I understand some of those examples are from quite a while ago. However, that is only a small selection of replies.
Unfortunately, if the calls are made using your SIM card, the calls originated from your device. Even if you did not intend on making the calls, you are responsible for your device. The mobile providers will only charge for usage via your SIM card.
Hope this helps 😀
Cheers
