topic Re: Porting protection in Get Support

Porting protection

Koreyb — Wed, 05 Jan 2022 15:27:49 GMT

Hi there,

I have been trying to get an answer on this one.

Lately in the news there has been a few different cases where people are having their cell numbers ported to another providers fraudulently and using this to get into their bank accounts etc..

Some providers offer a free port protection to help limit this. Does public offer this?

Re: Porting protection

Dunkman — Wed, 29 Jan 2020 03:37:17 GMT

@Koreyb

No official port protection policy yet.

Need to have a strong password for your self service account.

Someone needs your account holder name and account number and phone number to port.

Some people suggest to change your name to something you will remember. Need the exact account holder name to port over. Since PM is prepaid and no credit check, you can use any name.

Re: Porting protection

Nezgar — Wed, 29 Jan 2020 03:39:13 GMT

Public Mobile does not have an official "port protection. However, many of the publicised port-out scams were the result of the scammer calling the service provider and using social engineering to convince the customer service rep that they were the account holder.

I guess one assurance with Public Mobile, is that since there are no humans to call, and all support is done online, having a long, unique password, and a trustworthy e-mail service linked to your online self-serve account, you might be less vulnerable than some of the example cases at the premiere brands..

Re: Porting protection

gblackma — Wed, 29 Jan 2020 03:48:40 GMT

@Koreyb The short answer is PM has no porting protection. Fmi which of the Canadian carriers offer this specific protection? @mimmo or @will13am please take this one I se that you dealt with this in an earlier thread https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Discussions/How-To-Protect-Yourself-From-quot-Port-Out-quot-Scam/td-p/409752

Re: Porting protection

Koreyb — Wed, 29 Jan 2020 04:01:58 GMT

I can tell you both Freedom and Rogers offer this service. You simply have to call in or request it via live chat. @gblackma

Re: Porting protection

gblackma — Wed, 29 Jan 2020 04:12:35 GMT

Thanks @Koreyb , I found this answer from Oracle @computergeek541 on the subject https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Discussions/Cell-phone-porting-scams/m-p/331416/highlight/true#M85774

@Koreyb wrote:
I can tell you both Freedom and Rogers offer this service. You simply have to call in or request it via live chat. @gblackma

Re: Porting protection

vikki67 — Sun, 02 Feb 2020 17:17:56 GMT

Do not use your primary email, (that is to say the email that is linked to your private data such as banking and personal info.) I changed my email with Public recently to an alternate one for this reason. Also remove cc info and just pay as you go. If anyone ports your number/account then they can only access the email you have linked to your account.

Re: Porting protection

Koreyb — Sun, 02 Feb 2020 17:34:39 GMT

@vikki67 you are missing the point. Credit cards and email address are not really the issue. It's when people like your bank or other accounts text for two factor authentication to reset passwords for their accounts. When they port your number bingo! They can get in. This is why protection from porting is something all companies should offer to protect their customers. Public is a Telus company.. the resources exist to make this feature happen if there is will.

Re: Porting protection

vikki67 — Sun, 02 Feb 2020 22:31:46 GMT

No, not missing anything Koreyb. Email and phone numbers are the 2 main portals of entry. Your bank sends out the 2 step verification via email or phone (depending on how yours is set up) and since the hackers now have both, they can change your passwords thru either. My point is....since we seem to have no protection from service providers, it would be prudent to protect ourselves. By linking multiple/different email and alternate phone numbers to your bank accounts, (ie, dont use same email/phone number for your bank that you do your mobile account) you eliminate the possibility of your bank sending reset codes to the stolen phone number. And you would know immediately if someone were trying to do this by virtue of your bank notifying you. I don't know it seems a pretty obvious solution....or perhaps I am missing the point.

Re: Porting protection

computergeek541 — Mon, 03 Feb 2020 03:44:33 GMT

@Koreyb wrote:
@vikki67 you are missing the point. Credit cards and email address are not really the issue. It's when people like your bank or other accounts text for two factor authentication to reset passwords for their accounts. When they port your number bingo! They can get in. This is why protection from porting is something all companies should offer to protect their customers. Public is a Telus company.. the resources exist to make this feature happen if there is will.

I would argue that's on the bank when it comes to their security procedures if they allow access to your bank account just because you receive the authentication code.

At least at my bank, the 2FA authentication code is next to useless unless you also know the banking username (or card number) and account password. The 2FA code is simply an additional step that is required to get in.

These banks do need to weigh convenience vs. added security. No system is perfect. I do know that if you forget your banking password, calling in can get that password reset, and they rely on a bunch of questions and if you know enough about the account, they do assume that the account is yours.

Re: Porting protection

jp2 — Thu, 13 Feb 2020 12:55:26 GMT

@Nezgar wrote:
Public Mobile does not have an official "port protection. However, many of the publicised port-out scams were the result of the scammer calling the service provider and using social engineering to convince the customer service rep that they were the account holder.

I guess one assurance with Public Mobile, is that since there are no humans to call, and all support is done online, having a long, unique password, and a trustworthy e-mail service linked to your online self-serve account, you might be less vulnerable than some of the example cases at the premiere brands..

I don't think this will help at all since the person doing the fraudulent porting deals with the company they are trying to port the number to, not public mobile staff. So the "social engineering" risk is the same at PM. At PM you are probably more at risk because you can't call someone immediately to stop the port. At least it sounds like reporting your phone as lost or stolen in your account can stop this if u do it in time.

I think a solution the phone companies could implement would be to send the text saying a port was requested if this was done by u reply Y if not reply N.