Account

March 23, 2026

  1. david

    Hi Janell

    An SMS from 'Traci' at 'Next Level Plans' addressed to 'Janell' offering April health-insurance plans, sent to a phone whose owner is neither Janell nor a Next Level Plans customer.

    A phantom-account artifact — a health-insurance marketing follow-up addressed to 'Janell' from 'Traci' at 'Next Level Plans', delivered to my number on the basis of a customer relationship that does not exist.

    A familiar-tone SMS from a 786 area-code number — "Hi Janell, its Traci! April health plans are available! Should I send new plans for individual or family? Next Level Plans. Reply Q or N to END." The opt-out language ("Reply Q or N to END") is the marker of a real subscription-based marketing system. This isn't a hop-seed; it's an established record in some insurance broker's CRM, with my phone number listed against the name "Janell" as the contact for ongoing plan-pitch outreach.

    A phantom account in yet another vertical — health-insurance marketing. Same underlying mechanism: a third party uses my number as the routing identifier on a customer relationship that is not mine.

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  2. david

    DEA Phantom

    A DEA recruitment SMS pitching 'Find out what it takes to become a DEA Special Agent' with a GovDelivery (lnks.gd) short-link, arriving from an unknown toll-free number on a phone with no DEA recruitment subscription.

    A phantom-account artifact — a DEA Special Agent recruitment SMS routed through GovDelivery's lnks.gd shortener to a phone that has never subscribed to DEA communications. Different vertical (federal-government recruiting list) from the others on the site.

    A recruitment SMS from a toll-free number — "DEA: Find out what it takes to become a DEA Special Agent. View our frequently asked questions: https://lnks.gd/3/3THh5nW" The URL shortener `lnks.gd` is GovDelivery, the federal government's official SMS subscription gateway. This is genuinely from the DEA's recruitment outreach system.

    I have never expressed interest in a DEA Special Agent career. I have never signed up for DEA communications. My phone number is in the DEA's GovDelivery recruitment list anyway — a phantom account in a federal-government recruiting CRM, in a different vertical from the Accredo pharmacy, the Circle K convenience-store loyalty, the New Mexico Rail Runner transit alert. Same underlying mechanism: my number sits in a third party's database as a contact identifier on an account that is not mine.

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