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fergiak
02-25-2008, 06:39 PM
I have something to mention-- several members of my family and extended family have cell phones through aliant. Several of us-- 3 in my immediate family and 3 in my sisters family ( not the same last names) have gotten the exact same text message on our cells-- something to this effect: " Hi, I got your number from a friend of mine, I bet you are wondering who i am. If you want to know look up _________--(Name here.. a code name which i don't remember completely so I don't want to put it here)--

Weird? We have all just deleted these text messages when we got them, but, where would they come from? Has anyone else got anything like this? If the person is just picking random numbers, what are the chances that he/she picked 6 people from the same family? We don't have the same last names or similar numbers..

Just wondering if anyone else has had anything like this, and also wondering if you can get a virus on a cell phone? What might happen if you accepted this text?

shelby26
02-25-2008, 06:43 PM
yes i dont know if this is the same message or not but 2 people i know both recieved the same text something about call me, its carebear and a weird number!! Both of them had no clue who it was or who it was from? I think someone out there is sending some kinda texts so everyone becareful!!

dan j
02-25-2008, 06:48 PM
The messages are harmless but annoying. It appears some company for some reason or another is spamming cell phones via SMS using some sort of automatic dialer. In any given month there are thousands of these being sent out but most of the time providers have kept them from ever reaching their users. This one appears to have gotten through the firewalls.

Woofer
02-25-2008, 07:04 PM
my wife got that message 2 times on her telus cell phone. and the name was carebear something.

natasha lee
02-25-2008, 07:07 PM
my mother had asked me about this last night. My father is getting text messages with the code name care bear cutie.
Does anyone know what this is all about?

fergiak
02-25-2008, 07:26 PM
yes, that was the name--carebear-- should someone let aliant know?

jkennedy
02-25-2008, 07:53 PM
dan j is aliant. I'm sure he's got it covered.

Triple J
02-25-2008, 08:34 PM
I got it too. I ragged out my kid because I thought he had enetered me in a care bear contest LOL OOOps I will apologize tomorrow.

Pumpkin
02-25-2008, 09:03 PM
Well I haven't gotten any messages because i don't have a cell phone :P but my boyfriend, has a phone with Telus and he has been having issues of a different sort.

When he sends me text messages i am receiving them but from other numbers starting with area code 204 and so on and so on, check them all out and...all were from Manitoba and one was from somewhere else but can't remember...then later the day he was receiving text messages from those numbers himself on his phone. We called Telus twice and they haven't even the slightest clue what's going on, they have never even heard of it. I am still now and then receiving his messages from the long distance numbers, it hasn't stopped yet...and I am not sure if he is still receiving them on his phone or not....but this has been going on for about a month now!

Weird!!!

fergiak
02-25-2008, 10:28 PM
so, Dan J, what would happen if we replied or something? or went online and went to the site?


Is there some way to stop this?

dan j
02-25-2008, 10:57 PM
When I got mine yesterday it didn't appear as if there was a "reply to" number for these messages. Did anyone get a "reply to" number? If so, I'd advise not to reply as that would just confirm your number is active. It would be the same as replying to spam e mail. The website would be similar to any other non-trusted websites that you should avoid visiting just like when a spam e mail tells you to visit a website.

There isn't any way you as a customer to stop it but I'm sure the proper people are on it to ensure the firewalls keep these from being a regular thing.

V6Nside
02-26-2008, 07:27 AM
This happens all the time in India, they do not have any laws against spamming cell phones, so every 5 minutes you get another msg. I figured it would only be a matter of time before it became an issue here. The government is even looking at using SMS for Amber alerts and weather warnings, etc.

beachnut
02-26-2008, 10:29 AM
how can u be receiving text messages from your bf if u dont have a cell phone?

Well I haven't gotten any messages because i don't have a cell phone :P but my boyfriend, has a phone with Telus and he has been having issues of a different sort.

When he sends me text messages i am receiving them but from other numbers starting with area code 204 and so on and so on, check them all out and...all were from Manitoba and one was from somewhere else but can't remember...then later the day he was receiving text messages from those numbers himself on his phone. We called Telus twice and they haven't even the slightest clue what's going on, they have never even heard of it. I am still now and then receiving his messages from the long distance numbers, it hasn't stopped yet...and I am not sure if he is still receiving them on his phone or not....but this has been going on for about a month now!

Weird!!!

dan j
02-26-2008, 10:50 AM
She could be receiving them by e mail or windows live messenger. But yeah, I was a little confused by that conflicting information too.

trinity
02-26-2008, 11:17 AM
I signed up for what I thought was a one-question contest online, for my cell phone. Then I got one a day, every day, and the option was to text the word "stop" to get out of the the contest. It wouldn't stop until I called the number, because for some reason I can't get my phone to type the word "stop"- I must be an idiot, obviously some sort of texting shorthand is pre-programmed into my phone, because it would let me type 7-s, 8-t, but when I clicked on the 6 for the "o", it changes to "run" on the screen, then I hit "o" again and it says Summ. So I thought maybe, leave out the o, when I type 7 (s), 8(t), then 7 (p) it says Rumor. What the heck is going on here? I don't want any shorthand or shortcuts, I have used text messages less than 10 times my whole cell phone career and I am willing to type out supercalifragilisticexpialidocius if I have to. I checked a message i sent to my friend last year, I was able to use the letter O then, typed out whole words in fact. Imagine!

***never mind, I got it fixed-thank god for 16 year olds, now THEY know about texting. Apparently I was in T9 mode, which auto-completes some words and changes others to commands. ***

d15hatch
02-26-2008, 04:32 PM
i got this message yesterday i dotn know what it is but i deleted it haha

fergiak
02-26-2008, 05:33 PM
I don't remember for sure if there was not a reply number-- but I do know it said a website to go to and search for carebear-- I deleted the text and so has every one else in my family so I cannot confirm a reply number or website, sorry.

missyboo5
02-26-2008, 06:23 PM
Hi i recieved the same thing the other night from the same name carebear,saying they got my number from a friend,i was confused and didnt know who it was and the funny thing is that my boyfriend thought it was from guy lmao too funny,i just deleted it and my mom got the same one to and we are both from telus. But i am curious how all this is happening and from who?

Pumpkin
02-26-2008, 09:20 PM
how can u be receiving text messages from your bf if u dont have a cell phone?

Yes he just sends it to my email. There are sites for telus, rogers and aliant to send text messages. Texts r free except thru telus and they charge the customer u send them to unless they have unlimited texts. =)

Chinna Dah
02-27-2008, 07:42 AM
A co-worker of mine got some of those messages, unfortunatley he is too stupid not to reply to most of them. He then got a 600.00 cell phone bill. Might not be the exact same things as you all are talking about, but it was spam.

angelaa
02-27-2008, 08:12 AM
When a Company sends You those Text Messages It Costs You money. I have a cell phone through Presidents Choice with a calling card and everytime some unknown Company sends me a triva question my calling card gets deleted $1.50. They don't care who You are just the fact that they can randomly make money off of every activated cell phone.

dan j
02-27-2008, 08:40 AM
The carebear messages are not going to cost customers any money. This is spam.

The trivia, horoscopes, dating, and other types of text messages (think of late night MuchMusic commercials) do cost money. Often people sign up for those by themselves not realizing the costs involved or the customer gets a recycled number and that previous person had that service. Also, sometimes people will sign up other people they want to "get". These services are not spam but a shady service that doesn't disclose their fees well enough.

trinity
02-28-2008, 12:42 AM
Yeah, I'm hoping I don't get dinged for any charges, the contest I signed up for didn't say it cost anything til I got the first question, which I never got around to replying to.

FutureChief88
02-28-2008, 11:00 AM
Well cool guys.. My BF was getting those too.. I wondered about those..

shelby26
02-28-2008, 11:47 AM
Hey i just recieved a text message now it says "Hey i got your number from a friend of mine,but I bet u cant guess who i am! My user name is carebear cutie , if you wanna come see if you reconongnize me online, at carebearcutie.friend-pit.net well hope to see u soon! Like seriously whats up with this? I havent gone online because I know more than likely is a virus

Woofer
02-28-2008, 12:00 PM
thats the same message my wife got twice.

timmy
02-28-2008, 01:10 PM
A Couple of guys in my office got these msgs from carebear and got dinged 1.25 ea msg. One guys wife is up to $50. Aliant refused to do anything about it saying "you must have signed up"
Dan J, you should do a little more research before saying "don't worry be happy, doesn't cost anything"

vhleblanc
02-28-2008, 01:16 PM
I use Aliant ... I got the exact same text msg ... Funny, I don't even have texting on my phone ... I have tried to text in the past and it just isn't do-able ... lol ... I know I don't have my cell phone registered with any sites or subscribe to anything that requires my cell phone and the phone number is private ... It really must be some kind of auto-dialer ... Sad, that spamming my email isn't enough anymore ...
Plus side, its good to know we won't be charged ...
I did google search the name carebearcutie and it came up with many hits ... Several actually list a profile for a user of what are friend/dating sites ... I didn't go into any of the listings, but as google gives a description and sometimes a pic it was easy to tell that this was NOT someone I know ...

coffeegal
02-28-2008, 01:49 PM
Okay, another victim of the game here, lol. I just got the exact same message regarding carebear. You cannot reply it says, no address available. I am thru aliant, anyone hear any updated news on this???

justme77
02-28-2008, 01:59 PM
I just called aliant as all 3 cell phones here got 2 each. She assured me I would not be charged and just to delete them .I sure hope she is right.We got two messages one right after the other on each phone!!!!!!!!!!!

dan j
02-28-2008, 04:08 PM
A Couple of guys in my office got these msgs from carebear and got dinged 1.25 ea msg. One guys wife is up to $50. Aliant refused to do anything about it saying "you must have signed up"
Dan J, you should do a little more research before saying "don't worry be happy, doesn't cost anything"

since these just started happening on sunday, how could they have shown up on bills already? the messages that guys in your office have been getting could possibly be a different beast.

it could also possibly be your friends got a really small first wave of this spamming awhile ago before the mass spamming that started on the weekend. if so, this is the first i've heard of it.

as you can imagine, there are hundreds of companies that operate per-charge incoming text messaging service in canada. a lot of them are legitimate (sports/news and other updates that people sign up for and enjoy getting) and some are fishy but still legitimate (dating/horoscope. people often sign up for these without reading the small print on the tv ad and then call in complaining that they did no such thing) and then we got carebearcutie (who "is" (not an actual individual) sending messages without solicitation at all). for the legitimate ones, those companies bill us and we in turn bill the customer.

if so, now that we're aware of this spamming a script will be run to remove previous charges (if any exist) to all customers that have received this spam.

has anyone else here gotten the carebearcutie messages before this weekend that just passed?

the word i have been getting from the higher ups is that we're investigating the source of these messages and trying to determine what action is needed. obviously, if they're billing us for services our customers have not signed up for we will not be paying them and therefore will not be needing to charge customers those amounts. as for your friends timmy, i'd get them to determine if their messages were in fact the same spam that has been going around this week and call back to report it as their situation may be unknown in the investigation. when they call, advise them to pick general inquiries for mobility and not just billing as general inquiries goes to agents with more experience and training rather than just people who know how to read a bill. or, call into general inquiries for landline and asked to be transferred to mobility.

maggie
02-28-2008, 04:18 PM
i received the same message just this afternoon from carebearcutie. i just assumed it was something that was sent to me by accident, so i deleted it..lol!

jennifer25ca2006
02-28-2008, 04:18 PM
how can u be receiving text messages from your bf if u dont have a cell phone?

I sent out messages to a land line last night it can be done so there hahaa

dan j
02-28-2008, 04:31 PM
Oh yeah, landlines can get text messages now. They sound so weird. Has anyone sent one with "text messaging spelling" yet? What do those sound like? LOL, WTF, OMG.

dan j
02-28-2008, 04:43 PM
[aliant Wireless Customers Getting Spam Text Messages]

17:20:51

More Than One Hundred Bell Aliant Wireless Customers Are Dealing With A Sudden Barrage Of Spam Text Messages. Public Affairs Manager, Alyson Queen, Tells Chsj News They Are Trying To Track Down The Source Of The Unsolicited Texts, But Is Warning People Not To Respond To The Textx, Just Delete Them.

Queen Assures Customers That Recieving Text Messages Is Free But She Says It's Always A Good Idea To Know Who You're Giving Your Phone Number To And What Services Your Subscribing To Online.

mickey
02-28-2008, 05:51 PM
I'm with aliant as well and both my boyfriend and I got the same message there is no number but the website is *removed*. Just going to deleate the two messages I received today

puppyluv
02-28-2008, 06:38 PM
Mercy, I have just gotten 2, the bf had a few and the roomies have gotten them as well....talk about spam!

FutureChief88
02-28-2008, 06:59 PM
My BF got his about 3-4 weeks ago.. so it has been happening longer than this weekend past. He was with Telus.

I am with Rogers and i havent gotten anything.

Annie55
02-28-2008, 07:52 PM
My husband came home tonight and said about this carebear text message, he was confused about it too, I was quite surprised to see this on here tonight, he feels better now even though we don't know why everyone is getting them.

chevybeerman
02-28-2008, 07:57 PM
dang it i thought i was hot and a girl wanted me :( lol

dan j
02-28-2008, 07:59 PM
haha. I bet there were a lot of jealous wives/girlfriends about this.

brandenp
02-29-2008, 01:09 AM
I am with Bell Mobility directly and have not received any of these spam msgs. Thank god

puppyluv
02-29-2008, 05:52 AM
haha. I bet there were a lot of jealous wives/girlfriends about this.

Ahh, but they prolly just blame dan J..the aliant dude... mwahhhhh;)

Chinna Dah
02-29-2008, 07:59 AM
I got 2 yesterday. I dont have texting on my cell phone, and my cell is an emergency cell, only about 4 people have the number.

dan j
02-29-2008, 08:24 AM
haha, yes, blame me :)

The ability to text is still on every phone on Aliant even if you don't have a text package. In the "switch" there are lots of codes that make your phone function and SMS is a default one along with a bunch of others. These can't be removed.

christine chittick
02-29-2008, 01:11 PM
My ex husband called me late lastnite about it. He thought it was me fooling around with him..LOL...As soon as he said carebear cutie, i told him to delete it and not to respond or go to the website if they send one... I also told him that he may get a few more before the source is found and to just delete them as it was spam.

mizunderstood
02-29-2008, 04:58 PM
This was on the news today, there will be no charge for these messages, so don't worry people... It's not a huge deal.... :)

SVTF
02-29-2008, 05:46 PM
I got them as well .. and deleted them

demeter
03-01-2008, 11:08 AM
Is there anyway its happening to people who have their phone numbers listed on Facebook??

HorHay
03-01-2008, 11:36 AM
i also got two messages yesterday

puppyluv
03-01-2008, 11:39 AM
i do not list mine on FB demeter..neither does my better half.

Woofer
03-01-2008, 12:03 PM
we dont have it listed on FB either. its a new cell, no one has it.

dan j
03-06-2008, 03:29 PM
New info:

The messages were sent from aliant.net and sent to 10 customers at a time. (messages from aliant.net never charge customers who receive the messages). The website has been updated to have better security when putting in the validation letters/numbers to be harder to read by computer programs.

The source of the messages has been hard to figure out as the IP address used to send the messages were constantly changing.

Certain words have been blocked such as carebearcutie.

Security continues to investigate.

fergiak
03-06-2008, 08:02 PM
Thanks Dan j, for the update-- I have to ask though, were you ( at Aliant) aware of this problem before I posted my note? Just curious, cause sometimes I think about posting things, but don't bother, maybe I should post more

dan j
03-06-2008, 10:03 PM
I was personally and so was the company.

Posting is fine. The feedback is priceless both on this message board and others. The more consumers talk with each other the better off they will be as long as the information shared is accurate. You should post more.

fergiak
03-07-2008, 05:37 PM
Thanks Dan j!! You may regret telling me to post more!! haha,

stingray
03-10-2008, 10:47 AM
New info:

The messages were sent from aliant.net and sent to 10 customers at a time. (messages from aliant.net never charge customers who receive the messages). The website has been updated to have better security when putting in the validation letters/numbers to be harder to read by computer programs.

The source of the messages has been hard to figure out as the IP address used to send the messages were constantly changing.

Certain words have been blocked such as carebearcutie.

Security continues to investigate.


It's not as big a mystery as Dan J is making it out to be. I also received the message on my phone.
I called a friend of mine who happens to work in security at Aliant and they told me that it is coming from a local dating site. They told me to go google the word carebear cutie and the girls profile and pic would be there.
My friend also told me that Aliant wasn't doing anything more on the file as it is basically harmless, just annoying like repeated phone calls would be.
Hope this helps put an end to all the worry and speculation going on regarding these text messages.

homey
03-10-2008, 11:55 PM
We got the same messages and took it a step further....I went to the site, which is a dating type site, and set up a fake profile. It was the only way we could communicate with anyone on the site or in charge of the site. I sent an email to their customer support department and this is the response I got:

Thank you for contacting OnLine Personals Help!

I understand your concerns, however the SMS message in question could not have come from our servers; our website does not have any kind of SMS notification services or SMS-based advertising campaigns.

However, we do have an Affiliate Program in which we pay independent advertisers to bring traffic to our website. If you feel that the message you received could have been an advertisement sent by one of the Affiliates, please send me the details of this message (sender and message content), and the case will be investigated. Invasive advertisement methods of that nature are prohibited by the terms of our Affiliate Agreement, and any Affiliate found violating the agreement would have their account terminated and lose any funds the account had generated.
I hope this information was helpful!

If you have any additional comments or inquiries, please do not hesitate to contact us!

Have a great day!

Sincerely,

Morgan
Customer Care Technician

I responded back with the details of the text message that was being sent around and his response was this:

I am forwarding this to the Affiliates manager, hoping he can track down who is doing this.
I hope this information was helpful!

If you have any additional comments or inquiries, please do not hesitate to contact us!

Have a great day!

Sincerely,

Morgan
Customer Care Technician


Anways, it's probably gonna go no where...but just thought I'd post what was said to me.