Don’t fall for the incoming Rogers outage credit scams

Amid Friday’s massive Rogers service outage and subsequent restoration, the Toronto-based telecom has repeatedly promised to credit customers. However, Rogers hasn’t said how it will go about it, and now the scam messages are rolling out.

So, here’s your first official warning: do not click any links in any message you get about a credit for the Rogers outage. Honestly, that should be your default behaviour — clicking links, especially those received in unsolicited messages from untrusted sources, is one of the main ways that phishing scams work. People click the link and then provide sensitive information like login credentials to a fake website and boom! they’ve been phished.

Again, if you get a text, call, or other message from someone claiming to be from Rogers offering a credit for Friday’s outage, do not share any personal information or click any links.

So do yourself a favour and ignore these scams if you see them. Help your neighbour and spread the word. Do your part. Don’t get phished.

Of course, the thing that would most help stop these scams would be Rogers officially detailing how and when it will credit customers. Likely, the promised credits will come via your next Rogers bill — the company did promise to “proactively” credit users, which suggests people won’t need to do anything to claim the credit. Still, knowing for certain would go a long way to discrediting any scam message that goes against the official plan for crediting customers.

Speaking of credits, there’s also a question of what will happen for customers who subscribe to non-Rogers services that rely on Rogers internet. Wholesale internet service providers (ISPs) like TekSavvy come to mind. However, reports indicate Tbaytel is offering its customers a credit, which suggests wholesalers may receive a credit that could get passed along to their customers. It remains to be seen how this whole situation shakes out.

For now, stay safe out there and don’t get scammed!