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HELP! Victim of a sim card swap. What next?

TKRWG
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

Hi everyone,

 

Someone managed to swap my sim card with theirs and was able to access my PayPal account and make multiple fraudulent purchases.

 

I have gone into Lost/Stolen Phone > Suspended Service. What should I do next to retrieve access to my phone? The sim card associated on file with PM is not mine. 

 

Thanks so much in advance. 

15 REPLIES 15

And DON’T ever use your mobile number for second or first factor. 

Change your PayPal account password numbers, letters, symbols. Buy a new SIM card and register it. If you are near Maple Ridge BC....I will give you one. 

JK8
Mayor / Maire

@koicks 

 

Keep an eye on the envelope icon in the top right hand corner for a response from the moderators.

 

When Are Moderators Available And How Long Till I Get A Response?

 

During business hours, we strive to answer customer messages swiftly. You will often get an answer within an hour. During peak periods, you may need to wait up to 48 hours.

Moderators are available:

 

  • Monday to Friday from 8 AM to midnight Eastern time.
  • Saturday and Sunday from 8 AM to 10 PM Eastern time.

Kvee88
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen
  • @koicks  Mods are usually pretty quick in my experience but some people have had to wait up to 48 hrs for a response. 

koicks
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

@Anonymous wrote:

@koicks wrote:

What's my next best course of action to get my service back ASAP? Should I go buy a new SIM card and then change the SIM card number to the new one when I login online? Will this kick the other person off my number and allow me to get control again? I don't want to wait all day for moderators to get back to me while this guy on the other side is doing who knows what else.


If you logged in and Suspended your service then the other person can't use your account. Change the password of course.

The moderators have been known to reinstate the original SIM but if can't wait then yes you could just go get another SIM. They might even credit your account for it. YMMV

It's all your financial logins that matter. This is just phone service. You can use other phones or apps like TextNow to make do.


Okay thank you. This is more reassuring. I will wait and see what the moderators can do. How long do they typically take to get back to you?

Anonymous
Not applicable

@koicks wrote:

What's my next best course of action to get my service back ASAP? Should I go buy a new SIM card and then change the SIM card number to the new one when I login online? Will this kick the other person off my number and allow me to get control again? I don't want to wait all day for moderators to get back to me while this guy on the other side is doing who knows what else.


If you logged in and Suspended your service then the other person can't use your account. Change the password of course.

The moderators have been known to reinstate the original SIM but if can't wait then yes you could just go get another SIM. They might even credit your account for it. YMMV

It's all your financial logins that matter. This is just phone service. You can use other phones or apps like TextNow to make do.

koicks
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

What's my next best course of action to get my service back ASAP? Should I go buy a new SIM card and then change the SIM card number to the new one when I login online? Will this kick the other person off my number and allow me to get control again? I don't want to wait all day for moderators to get back to me while this guy on the other side is doing who knows what else.

Anonymous
Not applicable

@koicks wrote:

Hi there, I'm literally in the same position. This just happened as I woke up this morning. I woke up to no service on my phone, and when I checked my email there was fraudulent purchases from my paypal made.

 

I've contacted the moderator team based on what others have mentioned here. This really sucks. I wish Public Mobile had a contact number for emergencies because I'm feeling pretty hopeless right now.


It does suck. It has been suggested for a while now to send a confirmation text when doing a Change SIM in the self-serve. Providers don't do nuttin' until the CRTC demands it via the citizens. Nobody wants to lead the way voluntarily. I'm not sure any other provider has protections for changing the SIM if they allow it to be done in the account. Obviously if one has to deal with the company to change it then they would be verifying who you are. But not online other than simply logging in which people can guess or social engineer or break-in to the company servers and steal the logins.


@koicks wrote:

Hi there, I'm literally in the same position. This just happened as I woke up this morning. I woke up to no service on my phone, and when I checked my email there was fraudulent purchases from my paypal made.

 

I've contacted the moderator team based on what others have mentioned here. This really sucks. I wish Public Mobile had a contact number for emergencies because I'm feeling pretty hopeless right now.


@koicks Sorry to hear this. Make sure that you follow the advice given in other replies. Report lost/stolen, change passwords etc etc etc. Hope everything turns out for the better when all is said and done.

koicks
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

Hi there, I'm literally in the same position. This just happened as I woke up this morning. I woke up to no service on my phone, and when I checked my email there was fraudulent purchases from my paypal made.

 

I've contacted the moderator team based on what others have mentioned here. This really sucks. I wish Public Mobile had a contact number for emergencies because I'm feeling pretty hopeless right now.

kb_mv
Mayor / Maire

@TKRWG Let us know how you make out. While you wait for a moderator, you might want to start looking at how someone got into your account. Ask a moderator when the change happened. Can they tell you from where it happened (though VPNs can make this useless info). What sorts of cyber security lapses (if any) may have contributed to this?

 

From another thread on this I posted the following, maybe there is something useful in it:

 

For everybody reading this thread I offer the following as food for thought, hopefully getting people to think about their online presence.

 

The first issue is how did whoever sim jacked you get your account info including PIN that allowed them to port out your number? Figuring this out could help you to minimize the damage.

 

Second, a lot of people tend to use the same email/user name and passwords over a number of accounts. Now I admit I do the same to a limited extent. But I differ from most in the following:

 

1. My actual email accounts have a different, more difficult password than that used on sites like here.

 

2. My government accounts have a different username and a different difficult password from my emails.

 

3. My work accounts have a different username and a different difficult password than any others I use.

 

4. My banking has the toughest and longest passwords of all.

 

While on the topic of banks, having your number stolen doesn't give someone access to your bank accounts or anything else. The thieves have to know what bank you use and in my case the client card number used for sign in before they can try the lost password link. Assuming they have that info, they cannot get a password reset sent to them because I do not use my phone number on any accounts to get password resets sent to . None, nada, zero. In my opinion tying your phone number to any account is a horrible idea, as we have seen numerous times here. I will receive an email from the bank (see number 1 above).

 

5. I use an authenticator app for 2FA. I have set up all my accounts that allow 2FA to use this. No text sent to my phone number. You have to have the correct app and enter the time sensitive number to allow access. If an app/site determines that sign in is coming from an unknown (to this point) location/device, it asks for the authenticator code. Without it you can't get into my accounts. There are a number of authenticator apps out there and resources explaining step by step how to set it up for your particular account (if available). Yes it take time initially to go through your online life and do this, but I think it's worth it in the long run. If I recall correctly, It took me about an hour to complete when I went this route. Here is a site that lists pretty much all the popular sites that support it along with site specific instructions to activate it;

https://authy.com/guides/

 

Finally, stop giving thieves your life story on social media. Believe it or not there are bots that mine data from social media sites. My fav post is the one that asks you to answer a bunch of seeming harmless questions like what was your first pets name or the name of your favourite teacher. These are the same types of questions that some sites (banks, government etc) use as another layer of security. Don't make it easy for the bad guys.

 

I feel bad for people that have had their lives upended by sim jacking. Hopefully there is a nugget or two above worth considering to help your selves.

TKRWG
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

Thank you!! I just messaged them. 

Triguy
Mayor / Maire

Change your password and security questions.

Contact a moderator.

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Using-Your-Service/SIM-Swap/m-p/600545#M122210

Dunkman
Oracle
Oracle

@TKRWG 

Yes, you should report your phone lost/stolen.  

 

Change the password to your self service account to something stronger.  Also check any other online banking/financial accounts and change passwords, etc. 

 

Then contact moderator for help.  They might be able to restore your old SIM card.  Or you might need to purchase another SIM card and change yourself.

To contact moderator via 2 methods:

New Ticketing system - faster

Click on the question mark on the right lower corner of website to start ticketing process to contact moderator.  Type: SIM card swap. Follow the prompts to submit ticket.  

 

Send a private message to moderator through the following link :

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage/note-to-user-id/22437

kb_mv
Mayor / Maire

@TKRWG wrote:

Hi everyone,

 

Someone managed to swap my sim card with theirs and was able to access my PayPal account and make multiple fraudulent purchases.

 

I have gone into Lost/Stolen Phone > Suspended Service. What should I do next to retrieve access to my phone? The sim card associated on file with PM is not mine. 

 

Thanks so much in advance. 


@TKRWG Change your account password. Contact a moderator immediately. If you use your number for any password recover/2FA, check those accounts and change passwords and recovery methods.

 

Contact the moderator here, use Sim Jacked as a Subject.


https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage/note-to-user-id/22437

 

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