I thought the following of sufficient worth to pass along for all of we = Canukistanians who have cell phones.
P D Q
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Do-not-call scam circulating through e-mail
Cellphone providers are warning against a scam circulating via e-mail = regarding the CRTC's recently implemented do-not-call telemarketing = list.
CBC News=20
The e-mail warns recipients that cellphone providers are releasing their = customers' numbers to telemarketers, so they should expect calls that = will inevitably waste their airtime. Recipients are urged to call one of = two phone numbers purportedly attached to the national do-not-call list, = which the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission = launched on Sept. 30, in order to block such unwanted calls.
"All cellphone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies and = you will start to receive sale calls," the e-mail says. "You will be = charged for these calls."
The e-mail suggests the release of number databases has been confirmed = by Telus Corp. and urges recipients to pass the message on to their = friends.
Telus, however, issued an advisory on Tuesday evening warning that the = e-mail was "fraudulent and dangerous" and urged customers not to respond = to it or forward it.
Spokesman Shawn Hall said the company has no intention of releasing = wireless numbers to telemarketers.
"We have no plans to do that ever," he said.
Telus is working on determining the source of the e-mail. Marc Choma, = spokesman for the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association, said = a similar scam was run a few years ago in the United States when the = country rolled out its own do-not-call list.
One of the numbers in the e-mail is in fact the CRTC's do-not-call = contact number, but the other has been linked to telemarketing scams = going back a number of years, Hall said.
The do-not-call list allows Canadians to add their phone numbers - both = landline and wireless - to a database that is circulated to = telemarketers. A telemarketer that calls a number on the list is liable = for a fine up to $15,000.
While the CRTC requires landline providers to list customers' numbers in = the phone book, it is illegal for wireless companies to release = cellphone numbers without their subscribers' express consent.=20
Telus has polled customers as to whether they would want their wireless = numbers published in the phone book but found the majority believed = their contact information to be private.
"It came back rather resoundingly that people did not want their = cellphones listed in the phone book, and we respect that," Hall said