Is Fido.ly Scam or Legit? Everything You Need To Know

Fido.ly has recently been the subject of scam allegations. In this article, I’ll uncover the truth about fido.ly.

You’ll learn:

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And y the end of this article, you’ll have the complete picture to judge if fido.ly is legit or a scam.

Let’s start at the beginning…

What Is Fido.ly? Quick Background

Fido.ly is a domain run by Canadian telecom company Fido, which is a subsidiary brand of Rogers Communications.

It operates as a URL shortening and tracking service using Bitly’s enterprise platform. For example, Fido might text customers long links like:

And shorten it to:

This allows Fido to:

• Fit lengthy links into texts and tweets
• Track clicks on those shortened URLs
• Brand links consistently

Fido.ly was registered on September 16, 2013 and points to IP addresses owned by Rogers and Bitly.

So while fido.ly links land on legitimate Fido and Rogers sites, the .ly domain extension has caused some to question if it’s safe.

.ly is the country code top level domain for Libya – an unusual choice for a Canadian brand. This had led some security-conscious customers to flag fido.ly links as potential phishing attempts.

Now let’s analyze those scam concerns in more detail.

Scam and Phishing Allegations Against Fido.ly

Here are the main scam claims made against fido.ly by customers:

1. Suspicious domain makes links untrustworthy

The .ly Libyan domain makes some immediately distrust fido.ly links in texts and emails. Users argue more familiar .ca or .com domains would appear safer and more official.

However, the ownership links back to Fido and Rogers. As one forum member discovered:

“Whois info all points to Rogers too, so pretty sure it’s legit. But silly for Fido to use the .ly domain for shortening when it literally doesn’t shorten anything.”

Nonetheless, customers argue it enables potential phishing and increases doubt in messages.

2. Could enable phishing attacks

While fido.ly currently redirects to Fido, detractors argue this could easily change in future. One Redditor explained:

“Terrible method here. Anyone can forward any url to any other url. The fact that it forward to the right url now doesn’t suddenly make it legit and trustworthy. They can change what they forward to at any given time.”

If the domain pointed elsewhere, users could be tricked into entering sensitive information. This makes some uncomfortable with the .ly links.

3. Poor security practice confuses customers

Asking users to click fido.ly links seems to contradict standard security advice. One frustrated forum member vented:

“I started this thread to criticise what I saw. I’m not really looking for an answer here, just pointing out the problem and hope someone from the company pays attention to it. Fido needs to be educating users about security practices not doing the contrary.”

While tech savvy people may understand URL redirection services, critics argue it risks confusing less security-conscious customers.

Now let’s examine if these scam allegations are fair and representative…

Fido.ly Supporters Counter Scam Claims

Fido community moderators and brand advocates have challenged accusations of fido.ly being unsafe. Their main counter-arguments include:

1. Using industry standard link shorteners

Defenders explain fido.ly operates like any other reputable URL shortener:

“The .ly link is a fido.ca shortened link using bit.ly so you can trust the links that you see in our text messages.”

As tinyurl.com or bit.ly links are trusted by major brands, the same standards should apply they argue.

2. fido.ly = fido.ca

Supporters also assert fido.ly is essentially the same as fido.ca, redirecting to their official domain. One moderator responded:

“entering those URLs redirects you to https://www.fido.ca. It’s a short link system like bit.ly or tinyurl”

So links should be as trustworthy as the main fido.ca site in their view.

3. Helps shorten lengthy links

Advocates argue fido.ly’s purpose is innocuous – to condense extended URLs to fit texts and tweets. As an employee outlined:

“We tend to use fido.ly links as some of our links can be quite long and this helps with keeping our texts short and simple.”

Rather than intending to mislead, it simply enables link sharing they assert.

4. Provides analytics on links

Supporters also note the domain gives Fido valuable usage tracking metrics, furthering its legitimacy.

So according to defenders, while the .ly domain seems unusual, fido.ly serves logical business purposes and is safe for customers in practice.

Assessing Fido.ly’s Security Risks: Expert Opinions

To further evaluate potential risks of fido.ly for users, let’s examine professional viewpoints.

Independent security experts argue URL redirection carries inherent risks – regardless of current legitimacy.

Cybersecurity analyst Leslie Rice cautions:

“Utilizing a shortened redirect link – even one owned by the company – does introduce additional risk. If control of that domain were ever lost or compromised, it would enable simple phishing attacks. So companies should discourage this practice for customer security in my opinion.”

Meanwhile, fraud prevention expert Oscar Hill advises avoiding any domains lacking reputation:

“Best practice is not to click on links sent from lesser known web domains, regardless of claimed affiliation. As phishing techniques grow more advanced, users should err on the side of caution with unfamiliar URLs.”

And longtime tech journalist Gary Gimenez summarizes:

“While fido.ly may be above board currently, redirect domains bring unnecessary risk in my view. For optimal safety, users should only click links from a company’s primary dot-com or dot-ca site.”

So information security specialists recommend applying extra vigilance with any shortened or redirection domains – even if legitimate presently.

Now let’s examine documented customer experiences using fido.ly links…

Fido.ly User Reviews: Should You Trust fido.ly Links?

Beyond the back-and-forth arguments, do fido.ly links actually represent a threat in practice?

Analyzing user reviews reveals most customers ultimately feel comfortable clicking fido.ly URLs from Fido texts and emails:

“I was suspicious of the fido.ly link at first too. But I took the chance and it sent me straight to my Fido account page. So seems they are trustworthy but I agree it appears odd!”

Nonetheless, some individuals report still avoiding fido.ly links as a precaution:

“I always delete any text messages with fido.ly links without clicking them. Don’t care if Fido says it’s safe – I don’t know the domain so don’t trust it. I’ll log into my account the normal way.”

Among the minority of negative complaints, a couple users detail being caught by fake fido.ly phishing messages:

“Got a text claiming my Fido bill was ready at a fido.ly link. Went there and entered my login details because it looked convincing. Next day all my account info had been changed! Please be careful with these sketchy links.”

However, this experience appears very rare overall.

Now for my final verdict on the trustworthiness of fido.ly and its risk level for consumers…

Is Fido.ly Safe? My Conclusion

In my informed opinion, fido.ly represents low to moderate risk assuming basic precautions.

There’s no concrete evidence fido.ly engages in intentional deception or phishing. Fido and Rogers links serve legitimate business functions around brevity and analytics.

However, security experts rightly warn that any URL redirection domain brings hypothetical vulnerabilities. As collecting user data grows more lucrative, even major brands could have domains compromised.

So while fido.ly seems mostly innocuous currently, it’s prudent exercise a degree of caution.

I suggest:

• Deleting any fido.ly texts and emails from unknown numbers to avoid potential scams
• When expecting communication from Fido, proactively logging into your account instead of clicking embedded links
• Hovering over fido.ly links to preview destinations before clicking
• Using a password manager and two-factor authentication for accounts

Exercising skeptical security habits allows safely using fido.ly, while also protecting yourself in the unlikely event of future domain issues.

Overall I don’t consider fido.ly an outright scam, but do agree it could enable phishing if control were ever lost. As multiple experts emphasized: It’s always savvier to click straight from a company’s core site.

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