Sim Hacking/Sim Swap and PM's Response

[Kaitrin]

Hi all,

I have been a customer of Public Mobil for about a year now. Up until now I was really enjoying the coverage and lower cost plans.

However, 2 days ago my SIM card was hacked - I don't know the full details of this but from my understanding it involves getting someone's number and attaching it to a new SIM, wherein you are able to get into all of their two-factor authentication accounts (gmail, etc). Within minutes I had no service, my gmail account had been compromised, and had charges on my credit cards for thousands of dollars.

I contacted public mobile, and the moderator (not until the next morning) called this an "emergency" (and rightfully so) and provided two PM fraud phone numbers to call in order to try and expedite my request for help. I called both of these lines for the past 2 days, and both of them replied with a response akin to "We're sorry, but our fraud line is unavailable right now, please leave a message and we will try to get back to you within 2 business days." I apologize for the honesty - but this really does not seem like an adequate response to an emergency situation from PM. I don't think it's the moderators fault, but seems like more of a systems issue. I would be fully willing to take responsibility if I was personally responsible for any data breach from my own fault (I cannot identify anything), but I really find the response from PM to be insufficient.

From what I have read, it seems that given how PM operates, it is more prone to SIM swapping/hacking than other carriers, and at this point I am questioning if it is worth it to stay with PM if there is a higher likelihood of this happening.

I'm wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience with PM's response to such situations.

I'm also wondering if anyone has more understanding on PM's susceptibility to SIM hacking compared to other carriers given how they are set up.

Grateful for anyone's thoughts/experience with this kind of thing.

[darlicious]

@Camera4617 

2FA is part of the problem that leads to this fraud occurring. Without it simjacking becomes irrevelant.

[Camera4617]

I agree with you about statement "is it worth to stay with PM" if there is high risk of SiM hijacking. Honestly, I haven't even heard of it before I joined to PM and I see on regular basis that it is happening. PM needs to ensure (or at least try to) with some two-factor authentication that SiM hijacking is not so easy to do. I do create strong passwords, but no password is safe 100%, it is just matter of time to crack it using proper tools. So, I can live with 'slow self-serve' site, with potential autopayment failures, but I cannot nor want to worry about what if somebody takes my phone number. 

[will13am]

@Kaitrin , it is doubtful that Public Mobile is any easier to hack and SIM jack than any other service.  It is all about keeping the account password fresh, long and secure.  That said, having a public community forum makes the reporting of such issue known to everyone much more so than with any other service.  The long term repercussion could be a bigger target on Public Mobile customers due to a perception that this service is low hanging fruit for hacking.  This is just an educated guess.   

I hope you have taken all necessary actions to secure affected accounts while the SIM jacking issue works its way through the system.  If you have access to the self serve, report the phone as lost/stolen to prevent further use of your phone number.  Obtain a replacement SIM card and update it in the self serve account to recover your service.  

[darlicious]

@Kaitrin 

I'm sorry to hear this has happened to you and with extra unlucky timing of the past month of extremely slow response times not very helpful for your situation. I may have missed it but did you post about this on the community when it happened?

Oops...I hit that dang post button by accident! 

The community had become very adept at recognizing this issue and asking the customer ( like you) to check if their sim card matches the one in the account. If it does not you are advised to immediately suspend your service via lost/stolen and change your password. We then advise to check all of your financial accounts and finally to submit a ticket to get help from the moderators.

With wait times being what they are we also suggest buying a new sim card and switching it in the account to get your service back in your hands without delay. Furthermore I suggest you create a pm specific email for extra protection and a strong password used only for your pm account. 

This scam often starts with paypal or similar accounts with the same email and/or passwords used for multiple accounts coupled with too much personal info shared on social media accounts. Do a google search of your name and see what comes up.

[softech]

Honest, this has been an ongoing concern with PM slow response on serious issues like this. Not sure if they hear and if they will response by changing their support model and give an more speedy response on Fraud/Simjack issue

Curious, what 2 numbers they gave you? would be nice for us to keep it just in case