Numerous Verizon customers are receiving suspicious scam text messages claiming to be from the company and offering them a “little freebie” for paying their September bills.
Several people online have posted screenshots of text messages they’ve received over the last week or so. The texts are similar, with a message that thanks the customer for paying their September bill and offering them a “little something” or “little freebie” for doing so.
The scam text also includes a link, which one user said leads to a link offering them Apple Airpods for answering a “few quick questions.”
Verizon users have been noticing the scam texts since at least the last week in September.
Phone Arena was the first to report about the Verizon scam texts.
But Verizon users are not the only ones who have seen an uptick in scam texts. Another major carrier saw users reporting almost the exact same kind of scam text deluge recently.
Last month, the Daily Dot reported that many AT&T users also reported getting similar scam texts that thank them for paying their bill and offer them a “little something” or a “symbolic gift” that they can get by clicking on the suspicious link.
In a statement, Verizon told the Daily Dot that they are aware of the text scams and urged customers to report the messages or forward them to S-P-A-M (7726).
“We’ve become aware of an ongoing campaign of SMS messages being sent to our customers, attempting to look like a reward from Verizon, or bill message sent by Verizon. These texts are not from Verizon,” the spokesperson said, adding: “Customers should not click or interact with any links included in these messages.”
The company has also responded to some users who have tweeted about the scam texts. In one instance, the company said that the text claiming to be from Verizon did not “appear to be coming from a Verizon number” so it “is likely spam.” They suggested that the user report the text and not open the link.
Last month, the Better Business Bureau said there has been a rise in text scams where scammers impersonate businesses like Verizon, AT&T, Amazon, Walmart, and others. The scams all tend to offer a gift to users and include a link where the scammers “hope to steal your personal information.”
