Android marking texts from "O2(uk)" as suspected spam

[rj12]

Hello,

Today, I noticed Android has marked text messages from the sender/number "O2(uk)" as potential spam. There is a red warning icon on the thread, and a floating prompt asking if I want to "Report this suspected spam?". In the past, from this sender, I've received numerous text messages advertising O2 sim-only deals and other offers, and alerts about when my Big Bundle data allowance expires, among other similar messages. My message history for this sender goes all the way back to October 2020. Quickly skimming through these older messages, none of them seem suspicious.

Of all of these messages, only the most recent two, both received this morning after 09:00 GMT, are suspicious. These two messages are identical. Below is the exact text, except for the last part of the URL, which I've redacted because, if these messages are legitimate, I don't want to inadvertently reveal something sensitive; the redacted part was an eight digit, alphanumeric, mixed-case string of characters, and it was the same in both messages. "Rolling" is incorrectly written as "Rollin" in both messages.

"O2: Thanks for calling 2202.

To restart your Rollin Plan or to switch to a Big Bundle, log in at My O2 https://v.o2.co.uk/... then click Change Tariff to get set up.

To stop these offers, call 2220."

These messages are suspicious to me for multiple reasons.

Firstly, I have not called the number 2202 in recent memory -- at minimum, it has been multiple weeks since I called any O2 number.

Secondly, the text of the messages imply I've stopped my rolling plan, when I haven't; indeed, I have just checked in the My O2 app and my rolling plan is still active, and is set to renew next month.

Thirdly, out of curiosity, I tried calling the number 2220 mentioned at the end of the messages, and when I did an automated voice told me something to the effect of "This service is not currently available."

Does anyone know if this sender is legitimate? If it is, does anyone know why I might have received these two identical messages suggesting I telephoned a number that I haven't, and that my rolling plan has stopped when it hasn't?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Enlli]

Definitely SPAM / Phishing 

Phishing, Smishing & Scams. Latest info & advice. 

Thanks for the warning

[jonsie]

This is a new one to be honest

Thanks for the headsup

[rj12]

Hello,

Thank you for all your replies.

Since my original post, I have received two further messages from the "O2(uk)" sender, both on Tuesday week. The first was advertising top-ups to my rolling plan; this is very much the style of message I had been receiving from this sender before the messages I originally posted about

The second message was apparently regarding the previous two identical messages about my rolling plan being stopped:

"Hi. It's O2. We recently sent a message saying your Rolling Plan wasn't renewed. Sorry. This was a mistake. Your Rolling plan payment dates have not changed and your next payment will be on the normal scheduled date. To see your payment dates and plan details, visit MyO2 at https://v.o2.co.uk/..." (I have again redacted the last part of the URL, in case it's sensitive.)

I'm not convinced any of these messages from the "O2(uk)" sender are scams. The latest message suggests the two identical messages were sent in error. And before those two messages, everything I received from this sender seemed like standard O2 fare. And I don't know if it's technically feasible for a scammer to hijack a sender like this (is it?). I'm leaning towards Android being in error for flagging this sender as spam.

Does anyone think differently or have another perspective on these suspicious messages and apparent retraction from O2?

Thank you.

[madasaf1sh]

@rj12 

Users can report messages as well to other services which then feedback into the 3rd party services which different manufacturers use, and then classify them as spam. 
I see this a lot in my day job where people mark emails as junk or spam, just because they no longer want to received them, and then MS etc then just mark them as spam /junk across all emails. 

So think this is just and error wherem something has been triggered falsely..

[MI5]

@rj12 

Since your original post, we have learnt that the original texts you received were in fact sent in error due to a system glitch, so the texts were genuine, but incorrect.