2015-05-22

OFCOM being very special

Got an email claiming to be from OFCOM, subject "Service Charge Modified", email Cc myself and someone called brian21@gmailgmail.com, and starting "Dear User Windettj1". It goes on to say an area code and the new pricing point.

Does that look like a scam or spam of some sort? Obviously.

Well, no, guess what, it is genuine, and really is from OFCOM. So I asked what was going on.

The explanation of the "Dear User Windettj1" is: "June has made changes to Andrews & Arnolds SCs, hence it is her user name that appears on this e-mail".

OK, but I am not June, so why send me an email saying "Dear User Windettj1"?

The explanation for the brian21@gmailgmail.com is even odder: "When NMS was migrated all e-mail address were randomly scrambled, brian21@gmailgmail.com is a scrambled address"

I'm sorry, but WTF?

  • Why "scramble" email addresses?
  • Since when is brian21@gmailgmail.com in any way "randomly" scrambled. gmailgmail.com is a real domain, so that is probably a real email address. Are OFCOM deliberately leaking other people's email addresses? Or are they making up email addresses to create annoying backscatter to innocent parties? Or are they copying random third parties with emails that should be sent to us?
  • Why include a random scrambled email address in the email anyway? It just makes no sense!

They don't offer any explanation - it is like they deliberately made a system to send total nonsense to people, and when asked about it they just explain how total nonsense it is, as if that was what they intended all along.

It is like having a conversation with the mad hatter?!

And these people regulate our communications industry in this country.
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2 comments:

  1. UnknownFriday, 22 May 2015 at 09:08:00 BST

    Sounds like a case for the ICO ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. RevKFriday, 22 May 2015 at 09:10:00 BST

      Quite. I have asked if they have "leaked" brian21@gmailgmail.com to me, or if they have sent him the email hence "leaking" my email address to him. Waiting a reply. Of course I have now "leaked" it on my blog, which is perhaps not clever, but a bit late now.

      Delete

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