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One of the major privacy concerns customers have nowadays is being tracked online. From governments demanding backdoors and requiring age verification to online websites tracking your viewing habits, there’s seemingly no end to the greed for your personal data.
Adding fuel to the fire for some people this week is a letter that’s been mailed out to some customers of T-Mobile over the last few days. The letter purports to be directly from T-Mobile’s legal department, and claims that the targeted user has been visiting websites with “questionable material”.
However, these letters are fake. T-Mobile has not sent these letters out, and no one is quite sure who sent them or for that matter why they were sent. Let’s dive in.
A Letter Of Shame
The letter was first spotted by various users over on Reddit, and even more were posted on the unofficial T-Mobile Discord server. At first glance, it almost seemed like a prank from a single user, but as the next few days unfolded, the sheer number of users receiving the letter suggested otherwise.
As you can see below, the document claims T-Mobile has detected allegedly unsavory conduct on their network, including “hacking” and certain “adult-oriented content”.
It goes on to say that while the alleged content isn’t technically illegal, it somehow violates T-Mobile’s Terms of Service. It also then lists the steps that T-Mobile has apparently taken to prevent further violations, including content blocking and “increased monitoring”.
Further, the letter says that future violations may result in account termination and more.
At a cursory glance, this could all seem legitimate. The letter has the official T-Mobile logo at the top, and even finishes by saying to email an official T-Mobile email account.
Nevertheless, it’s all fake.
T-Mobile’s Response
We reached out to T-Mobile’s public relations to ask about the legitimacy regarding the letter. After an investigation, they got back with a response:
We’ve looked into this and can confirm these letters are not legitimate. They did not come from T-Mobile and do not reflect our policies or practices. We do not monitor or censor browsing activities, and like other providers, we use standard protections to block access to known malicious sites for security purposes. We take this kind of impersonation seriously and are continuing to investigate. In the meantime, our Care team is following up with customers who reached out to us.
– T-Mobile
The answer makes a lot of sense. It would be quite concerning if an ISP took it upon themselves to monitor and block content at their leisure, regardless of what that content may be. Aside from protecting users from known malicious sites (hosting viruses, phishing sites, etc.), an ISP has no business policing your internet connection.
T-Mobile also says in their statement that they take this impersonation seriously, and are continuing to investigate. That’s a good thing, and hopefully the source of these letters is found and maybe even prosecuted.
So Where Did The Letters Come From?
The big question here is…why? What could possibly be the point for someone to send fake letters like this to customers?
Unfortunately, so far, no one knows. It could be a precursor to extortion, where the bad actor attempts to get money out of a target with a future letter. Or maybe someone just wanted to stir up some drama.
Either way, it’s a bizarre situation. These are physically mailed letters, not some email spam that takes no effort to send. They were sent directly to T-Mobile customers by name, using very realistic wording and layout.
And yet, there are no attempts to defraud the customer. No wording that asks for a ransom/payment, not even an email address that could possibly go to the bad actor. In fact, the email address in the letter is a real email address for T-Mobile’s legal department.
So what’s the end goal? We’ll leave further speculation to you.
The point is, if you received this letter, know that it is 100% fake, and you have nothing to worry about. If we learn more about this situation, we’ll be sure to cover it.
If you received the letter, let us know in the comments below. We’re curious just how wide-spread this goes.
