Bell Email Scam

I am very conscientious about paying my bills as soon as they arrive so I post-date them to be paid on the due date by the bank.  In general, this works very well.  But  for the second month in a row, I received an email saying that Bell had been unable to process my last payment.

Last month I had clicked the link provided in the email and was led to a page asking for a great deal of information including my credit card.  I recognized it immediately as a phishing attempt and called Bell to report it.  After the obligatory wait period, I was connected to agent Tom who assured me that this was indeed a scam and I should disregard it.

Again this month, I received the “Your last payment cannot be processed” email.  Once again, it looked very official and this time the link to My Bell took me to a page that looked exactly as the legitimate site looks including photos and links, most of which worked.  Two blank rectangles eagerly awaited my account name and password but the URL at the top looked a little suspicious so I stopped there and, after the obligatory wait, commenced a chat with Rhoda, this month’s cheery Bell agent.

Once again I provided the appropriate information for her to verify my authenticity and when I explained the situation she agreed that this was a very common scam that I should ignore.  She also asked if I would be willing to forward the offending email to be used as evidence and, after a short waiting period, she was able to provide me with an email address that would lead, I understood, straight to the sleuths at Bell Accounts.  I ended the chat session, assured Rhoda that there was nothing else she could do for me and fired off the email along with the offending email and a screenshot of the purported My Bell page.

Two seconds later I received the message from the ever-vigilant Postmaster informing me that my email could not be delivered.  I shook my head and questioned the authenticity of Rhoda.

I then picked up the phone and, after the obligatory waiting and authentication periods, explained the situation to Camille.  She launched into a long explanation of the scam, etc.  I assured her I knew all about this, and wanted to know if she could provide the CORRECT Bell abuse address.  Obviously unaware of this she offered to find it for me. After yet another obligatory waiting period she cheerily rhymed off not an email address but a website.  When I pointed this out, she assured me that this was where I would be able to be a good citizen and register the email, false My Bell page, etc.

I dutifully went the page only to discover that it contained a long explanation by Bell on what phishing is and how to avoid internet scams. There was NO place to forward suspicious emails or websites.  I sat stunned, staring at this useless screen questioning whether any of the ‘agents’ I had talked with were legit and contemplating what I will do when I receive next month’s email telling me that Bell has been unable to process my latest payment.