A Portager saw red flags after a call was made to his home from a party claiming to be a representative of Bell Canada, and wanted everyone to beware of this recent scam.  

Jeff Roulette outlines what transpired.

"They phoned saying that they represent Bell, and that they are acting as a collection agency for the company," says Roulette. "And I don't deal with Bell. The name that she gave me was Marie and they gave a reference number."

He notes he then phoned them twice afterwards, and the same person answered each time.

"They were asking for me to verify my birthday, so it matches with their records," continues Roulette. "They're asking about my social insurance number, and if I had a credit card. They just required that I submit that information and said they'll try to eliminate whatever collection agency and whatever information they have on it."

Roulette adds he stopped them before they were able to inform him as to how much money he owed. He notes he repeatedly told them He does not deal with Bell or MTS and there was no possible way that he owed them any money. 

"They just kept asking for my birthday, and they asked if I had a credit card, and they just kept going over and over the same thing over and over again," adds Roulette. "I told them I do not give that information over the phone to anybody. The first call happened last week and then they called two days ago. I just wish people would not give out any information over the phone to anybody and track and verify the number, and everything. My wife checked it out and they apparently contacted 8,000 people so far." 

He notes he tries to warn as many people as he can when he hears about these kinds of scams. 

 

Meanwhile, the RCMP received a report of a new scam coming from scammers saying they are with Bell MTS. 

Bell advised these types of frauds are new. 

'What happens is they collect information from the customer such as; phone number, name and mailing information. Once they have the information the fraudster goes online and orders a new phone through Bell under the victim's account using the information they have acquired, which would be billed to the victim without them knowing it,' states the most recent RCMP report.

'Once the phone is shipped, the fraudster starts calling advising the victim that "Bell" sent the wrong phone and it was to be a Samsung phone and send a new mailing slip to return the phone to a different address. The fraudster then would keep the iPhone and sell it.'

Police advise not to pick up any packages that come in the mail from Bell MTS unless you have ordered it yourself.