The Storm May 21, 2026 david
Circle K Phantom
A phantom-account artifact — a Circle K loyalty-program welcome SMS asking me to reply YES to confirm enrollment in a marketing subscription I did not initiate.
A late-night welcome SMS from shortcode 25050 — Circle K's marketing gateway. "Welcome to Circle K! Reply YES to subscribe and receive special offers, updates, and more." Someone enrolled my number in the convenience-store chain's loyalty/marketing list. The message is a double-opt-in confirmation — I did not initiate the enrollment, and I did not reply YES to confirm it.
A phantom account in a different vertical from the Accredo specialty-pharmacy or the New Mexico transit-alert instances — convenience-store marketing this time. Same underlying mechanism: my number is being used as the contact channel for an account that exists in someone else's flow, not mine.
The double-opt-in requirement is what stopped this one from completing. The enrollment is held pending a YES that will not come.
