My daughter got an e-mail from “xxx@vzwpix.com,”. Where “xxx” is my wife’s (I.e. her mother’s) phone number. The email contained a link to a file named “text_0.txt.”
Can anyone shed any light on how someone got my wife’s number and knew to use it in an e-mail to her daughter?
Thanks in advance
Bizz
Doesn’t sound like a scam to me. It sounds like a picture message, sent by email (either inadvertently, or when the recipient doesn’t have a phone capable of displaying picture messages).
Before I had a smartphone, I would get similar messages if somebody tried to send me a photo by text.
Vzwpix.com is a Verizon domain (short for “Verizon Wireless Pictures”, presumably).
From an archive of Verizon’s Picture Messaging FAQ:
*What is Picture/Video Messaging from Verizon Wireless?
Picture Messaging is the ability to take your own picture using your picture messaging phone and send it to other compatible phones as well as to any email address. You can also dress up the picture messages you send by adding additional slides and adding text or sounds you record right on your phone to these slides. And, of course, you can also receive photos on your picture messaging phone, too.
Video Messaging is the ability to record your own 30-second video using your video messaging phone and send it to others mobile phone numbers as well as to any email address. You can also add text to your Video message right on your phone.
Note: Video messaging phones are also picture messaging phones. Therefore, users can also capture photos and send and receive picture messages. However, not all picture messaging phones have video capture capability.
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How can I get Picture/Video Messaging?
To use picture messaging, you need to have a picture messaging phone and be provisioned for Picture/Video Messaging service.
To use video messaging, you need to have a video messaging phone and be provisioned for Picture/Video Messaging service. Users provisioned for Picture/Video Messaging service will be able to send/receive both picture and video messages. All video messaging phones will have both picture/video messaging capability but not all picture messaging phones will have video capture capability.
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What is my Picture/Video Messaging email address?
**Your email address is your mobilenumber@vzwpix.com.
For example: 9991234567@vzwpix.com***
Was it a link or an attachment? I’d be willing to bet the text file contains the text message your wife sent her. IME, when someone sends a text message to an email address, it comes through as an email with the text in an attached *.txt file.
My guess is that she was trying to send a text to your daughter, but got her email instead. My dad does that all the time to me. From what he’s told me, it happens by accident if the last communication he got from me was an email. Somehow when he uses Siri to send me a message, it grabs the email address instead of my phone number in those cases.
To make it worse, when I open it, the text is so tiny I can’t read it without zooming way in.
Thanks to all. I did a little sleuthing, and indeed, my wife had sent a picture/video the previous evening, so this looks less suspicious than I feared.
Again, thanks to All for your rplies