Lost Connection

[EWL168]

Hi! I am currently using an Apple Iphone XR and have been using public mobile for a few years now. All of a sudden, I can't get any connection (voice, mms, and data) to public mobile. I have reset the phone many times with waiting in between before turning it back on. I have tried to swap sim cards to another working phone under public mobile. The swapped working SIM card works on my Iphone XR and the non working SIM card originally from the lost connection Iphone XR does not work on the other working phone. Can some help me with this problem? I have also looked into my account and everything is up to date and active and all paid for as well. Is there something I'm missing or did the SIM card all of a sudden fail and I need a new one? Thanks!

[kselmak]

@mpcdesign 

Lucky sells theirs in Dollarama for$4 

I don't think dollaramaa would sell it if they didn't collect some kind of profit on it

I think there was a South Park episode about similar issue, but I think it was the price of jewellery in question

[kselmak]

@EWL168 

You should change your security questions as they are easily seen once inside your account.

Misspell your name, charge your address to your mom's, just go around and change all the info to something you can easily remember but others can't guess.

You should also inform moderators about it. I would also consider changing the login to your allternative email, the less they know about your account the better. It's very unfortunate that you can't charge your account number

Also check your bank and other accounts if they are linked to your phone, it can easily turn into a major issue

[mpcdesign]

@Korth, I totally agree with you on this one. How is a company back East in Ontario, able to sell Public Mobile sim cards for $3 bucks each while Public Mobile regular price is $10, and if on sale it's $5? 

There are many people here who have bought and used PayPal and not a credit card, but, if your PayPal account is connected to a credit card or bank account, well, there are people who are quite tech-savvy enough that they could possibly hack into. 

The old adage, if something seems too good to be true, it probably is not!

Another thing I always wonder is if you sign up for anything, you can sign up with your Gmail account, Facebook account, Apple ID, etc, is it possible someone from the IT department be shady enough to grab your user name and password and look at quite possibly your passwords? Things that make you go hmmmmm....

[Korth]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Y'gotta trust folks. The vast majority of folks are trustworthy.

---

Yes.

But you also need to safeguard yourself from the ones who aren't trustworthy. It doesn't mean you have become a paranoid misanthrope or tinfoil hat weirdo. It just means covering the basics so you're not simply handing yourself over to thieves.

Don't you lock your home and your car when not occupying them? Do you let strangers "borrow" your debit cards and credit cards? Do you leave copies of your personal records and ID lying around unguarded? Do you scrawl your phone number in public washrooms?

If you do or don't do these things offline - because too many people are not known to be trustworthy - then why shouldn't you do or avoid the same things online?

[geopublic]

Maybe credential stuffing. Worked on the CRA site why not try Mobile provider sites.

People should not use the same password on multiple online sites.

[Anonymous]

 @Korth 

The recent thread twigged me to say...well...couldn't any retailer get up to the same shenanigans?

Y'gotta trust folks. The vast majority of folks are trustworthy.

[Korth]

---

@geopublic wrote:

The number of these sim swaps lately is very alarming. It would be interesting find out if this is due to weak passwords or something else.

---

I wonder if "something else" might coincide with online vendors selling PM SIM cards at prices even cheaper than PM sells them?

People don't realize that the little chip in the SIM card is basically just as valuable a target for thieves as the little chips built into their debit cards, credit cards, and government ID cards. A chip always active, always connected to a "public" network.

Would you ever buy any of these things from an online vendor (or worse, from ebay or craiglist) because they're priced lower than whatever your bank or government charges for them?

The vendors in question - which I'm tastefully not naming outright - are likely legit. I don't want to smear their reputation. But with so many criminals and opportunists online it's not imprudent to exercise some critical cynicism. Especially since full price of a PM SIM card from the official source is only ten bucks.

[Anonymous]

---

@geopublic wrote:

The number of these sim swaps lately is very alarming. It would be interesting find out if this is due to weak passwords or something else.

---

With all the personal information many people freely hand over to whoever asks...I say weak passwords.

I find it extremely frustrating to have to hand over such information. Basically...ya wanna use our services or buy our products???...all your personal information please. That and your left reproductive organ.

How else does one get in to an account to change the SIM? Or what back door is there that people use? (not that that should be posted here)

Yeah...alarming.

[geopublic]

The number of these sim swaps lately is very alarming. It would be interesting find out if this is due to weak passwords or something else.

[EWL168]

Hi Everyone!

Thank you so much for all the quick responses! I've never had problems with my phone or with public mobile until now. On logging into my account, the SIM card numbers did not match what was on the account! Scary how someone was possibly able to change it? I changed my password for the account and got a new sim card and changed it to that and so far everything is back to normal!

[geopublic]

@EWL168  If the sim numbers don't match then someone was able to change the sim card and take over your number and maybe you identify for 2FA. This is a very serious security threat. If the last 4 digits don't match then secure your bank account, credit cards and ask other important online accounts. Purchase a new PM sim card and do a sim swap. In the meantime declare your phone lost/stolen.

[Anonymous]

 @EWL168 

Log back in to your self-serve and use the Change SIM function to check and verify that the last 4 digits of your SIM match the actual card in your phone.

Edit: speedy kselmak

[kselmak · Accepted solution]

Can you check your status

Can you check if the sim number matches your sim number?

If they don't please change password and security question report the phone lost and contact moderators asap https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage/note-to-user-id/22437 they can reverse it

If it dies match, try cleaning sim contacts, you may have to get a new sim