I don’t use Siri. I don’t say “Ok, Google.” And I don’t like Amazon’s Alexa listening to all of my conversations. I just haven’t found value out of virtual assistants, which may make me a luddite.
However I’ve had my priors reinforced by this story of Siri calling the wrong phone number when a passenger tried to reach Delta. And it wasn’t just a wrong number, it was a scam number for someone impersonating Delta. They trusted it because they trusted Siri – and it cost them a fee.
A [Delta passenger] had trouble with [online check-in] so she commanded Siri, “Call Delta customer service.” Siri then dialed a call center which eventually led to..an “agent” who informed her that her name in the reservation didn’t match the name on record. She has previously traveled with a maiden name so this seemed plausible. To fix it quickly she’d have to pay $125. She fell for it and gave her AMEX number.
When she checked again online to confirm her name was “correct,” she saw no change in the name so she called D[elta] without using Siri and thus with the correct phone number. After a hour on hold she got a true D[elta] agent who said the reservation was fine, there was no issue with her name and didn’t know why [online check-in] didn’t work.
When she tried calling the fake..call center back to attempt to get the charged reversed she discovered her phone number was blocked. She checked in at the airport at a kiosk with no issues.
At a minimum this is a good reminder to always verify the phone number you’re dialing. Though I suppose the customer should have been tipped off when they got right through on the phone to Delta. Let’s be careful out there.
