Fraudulent Porting of Numbers

[WinMan]

I've recently heard a lot about people having their phone numbers stolen and ported to other phone companies thereby giving access to their personal financial data to the thieves.

1) How does one prevent this from happening?

2) How does this allow the thief to access one's personal finances?

3) How does a person know when they've been hit?

4) Who does one contact if they think their number has been stolen?

[DOA]

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@WinMan wrote:

I've recently heard a lot about people having their phone numbers stolen and ported to other phone companies thereby giving access to their personal financial data to the thieves.

1) How does one prevent this from happening?

2) How does this allow the thief to access one's personal finances?

3) How does a person know when they've been hit?

4) Who does one contact if they think their number has been stolen?

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Just to answer #2 . . .

The bad guys go through trash cans and dumpsters to harvest bank statements  and credit card statements and also peruse facebook to gleen personal information about their marks (some people put a crazy amount of info for the world to see on facebook).

After they have a stack of your information, then they try to port your number and use it to change passwords etc after they've hacked into your bank accounts.

So if you still receive stuff by mail, be careful how you get rid of it and delete facebook or make it private.

[Stormy]

https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/sim-swap-fraud-explained/

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/nurse-scammed-out-of-nearly-10-000-after-falling-victim-to-new-sim-swap-s...

https://mobilesyrup.com/2020/01/17/montreal-teen-charged-sim-swapping-crypto-scam/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIM_swap_scam

[WinMan]

This was a very thorough reply and much appreciated.

[oglat]

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@Luddite wrote:

@WinMan Some marginal comfort: 

https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/on/get-help/articles/port-fraud-protection

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That is very good. Thanks for sharing @Luddite 

I was also wandering, maybe it's good idea to have email on file different then bank email. Then they would really have hard time guessing your email. If they have access to your phone would they be able to change the email without calling in and talking to a rep? Anybody has any ideas?

[Luddite]

@WinMan Some marginal comfort: 

https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/on/get-help/articles/port-fraud-protection

[sue04]

Thanks so much! Appreciate it.

[gblackma]

@sue04 , did your service restart? Restart you phone.

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@sue04 wrote:

I did add $1 just now. 

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[sue04]

I did add $1 just now. 

[sue04]

Thanks. I have been in touch. Will try adding 1$

[gblackma]

@sue04 can you log into your self service / my account ?  If you can, try adding $1 to it. This may kick start your service. If it doesn't,  contact a moderator and explain your situation.  Click on the green questionmark in the white circle at the bottom right of your screen.  This connects to the autobot Simon.  Type moderator and follow the prompts to get to one . (CLICK on account specific question and human and submit a ticket) 

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@sue04 wrote:

I have no service from morning

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[sue04]

I have no service from morning

[geopublic]

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@WinMan wrote:

I've recently heard a lot about people having their phone numbers stolen and ported to other phone companies thereby giving access to their personal financial data to the thieves.

1) How does one prevent this from happening?

@WinMan Protect your account#, name on the account, PIN and IMEI and make sure your email is secure.

2) How does this allow the thief to access one's personal finances?

Because in today's digital world one's phone = wallet so if they have access to your phone number and your email then it's pretty easy to reset passwords  via 2FA and assume your identity for most online transactions including banking.

3) How does a person know when they've been hit? Your phone stops working and you lose access to your online selfserve account. Your provider will also send you a text just before the number gets ported out, just enough time to let you know that your nightmare is about to begin. 

4) Who does one contact if they think their number has been stolen? Your bank(s), cc companies,  all online ecommerce sites that you deal with and the police. PM also annouced a new process here: https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/bc/get-help/articles/port-fraud-protection

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[will13am]

@WinMan, quite often people use SMS in a 2 factor authentication or for account resets.  If someone knows of you and if they have access to your phone number, various critical account logins can be reset.  It takes a little more than just having a phone number but the number is a key element in potentially being scammed. 

I am sure those affected will know but unfortunately it comes after being impacted.  As for who to contact, for this service it is the moderator team. 

[mimmo]

If your number has been ported out you lose service and you can't log into your account.

Porting required your exact name and one of account member account pin or IMEI.  

Ways to avoid are change your account name on pm to something slightly different and use a Gmail alias as your account login.