Has anyone else had phone Hijacked??

[2066]

Woke up this morn with No Service, after the frustrating process of opening 2 tickets to try for assistance and combing thu pages of community posts turning on and off settings restarting trying sim in other phones other sims in this phone it was determined the sim maybe at fault. by this time 8hrs I was already on my way to local Walmart to purchase new sim.

When I went to change sim card in my self help account the current sim listed wasn't the my sim#. Soon as I inputed new sim# the phone worked right away!

After this i got looking at usage and around 4:16am while I was asleep my phone# was being used to access the internet and send and receive sms messages from short code #'s

Has anyone ever had this happen and what should I do??

[andmalc]

A friend of mine on Koodo got her phone account hacked last week.  Once they had that they reset her PayPal password and got off with $1,500.  Yes, her Koodo password was basically the same as for other online logins.  

I understand re-using passwords for Mickey Mouse logins but your phone and email accounts are sacred.  

[gpixel]

I have been doing tons of research on this because it's becoming ever more prevalent. it's very easy to get malware on a computer especially if you have outdated software/browser/extensions/java script. you can get malware just from visiting a site and not clicking on anything.

goto this website and enter your email in the field to check and see if you have security breaches and figure out where they came from

https://haveibeenpwned.com/

I also suggest others to do the same and change your passwords if you haven't done so in years

[will13am]

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@2066 wrote:

thanks, holys#it  I see on my other phone 3 sms password resets for my paypal and 1 reset code for my email

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As I already suggested, get the IMEI of the device used in the hijack from the moderator team.  There will be records of this available to you.  There should also be traces of where the device was used to connect to the network.  I would report this information to the police as this is clearly a fraud attempt.  

[darlicious]

@2066 

    I am very sorry this is happening to you....take the time now to safeguard your finances. Once you have regained a reasonable enough amount of control again you can review what else you can do to secure your current and future financial situation. Contact with the moderators can initiate the process of possibly finding the culprits as per @will13am suggestions. Hopefully you have access to a working phone to deal with rest of your compromised accounts.

1. Get access to a secure phone line even if it means borrowing a trusted friend/family.
2. Create a new email account. You may want to do this first in order to know you have it secure.
3. Work with your financial institutions fraud department for bank account security and recovery of any fraudulently stolen funds. Follow their advice on contacting/reporting this fraud to your local police department. Report this to the Canadian Anti-fraud Agency.
4. Remove verification thru phone and email on your financial institutions accounts and you may want to disable your online banking privileges temporarily and only bank in person with 2 pieces of ID required for service. Disable phone banking as well. Enable all additional security features that are offered on your accounts. Have verification done in person and/or mail only. Do not use the mail option if your mail delivery is not secure. (Canada Post superboxes are not secure!)
5. Call Equifax Canada and Transunion and put 7 year fraud alerts under your identity/SIN #. Use your new number or secure phone # (spouse, parent, adult child or your employment ph#) for this as you will be getting credit calls. If they cant talk to you no credit will be given so immediate access to this ph# is not necessary just that its secure and you can get messsages.
6. Contact all other credit card companies and inform them of your situation and put a hold on any cards that are not necessary. Add a verbal password for each card for all phone conversations with that credit card company.
7. Change all log in usernames and passwords to any linked or online accounts for your financial institution, credit cards and online accounts like PayPal, Amazon and loyalty programs like pc optimum or airmiles etc....
8. Review your online security and try to remove, review or change personal information you have left vulnerable or accessible to the general public especially on social media or popular online forums that you frequent. ie. Is your username for the community your actual name?
9. When you get your original phone number and pm account back change the email and password and slightly change the spelling of your name ir replace it altogether with a new name like : Dolly Parton, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Maria Callas or Kurt Cobain and tell no one! (Except the moderators you deal with in the future as this will prevent a fraudulent port as long as your account log in remains secure.)
10. Never remain signed into any online account. Always take the extra steps to imput your username and password and employ any extra security features offered for your accounts.

I hope this is helpful and you have minimized any damage caused to your finances.  Our thoughts are with you and we want you to recover everything you have lost. Best of luck!

[2066]

thanks, holys#it  I see on my other phone 3 sms password resets for my paypal and 1 reset code for my email

[gblackma]

@2066 change your passwords on the account. Your secret question, etc. Contact your bank, change the passwords on email addresses, credit cards etc, anything that may have been exposed. Also change your name on your self service account Any name, ie Donald Duck will do. Stay safe. 

[Luddite]

Yes, it similar things have happened. As you still have access to your account immediately change the password. Once done, check your credit card for unusual transactions.

For more assurance consider changing your secret questions and using a fake name. 

Often, in this situation your account is totally stolen. Without your phone or SIM I don't understand how your service could be used?

[will13am · Accepted solution]

@2066 , I think there have been discussions of phone hijacking but it is not a epidemic.  I would suggest that you should change your account password.  Also, if the hijacked number is used in 2 factor authentication accounts, check those accounts for suspicious activity and change those passwords as well.  If calls have been made, use the numbers shown to trace the perpetrator.  Also, I would suggest contacting the moderator team to find out the IMEI of the device that was used in the hijacking.  That can also be used to trace the perpetrator.  The moderator team can be reached via private message using smartforms which is initiated by clicking on the ? on the lower right corner of the webpage or try using this link. The guided process will facilitate documentation of the issue or concern and the required resolution which will be submitted to the moderator team. Refer to this announcement link for additional details on smartforms and the ticketing system for moderator team interactions. If use of smartform brings no joy, then use the following direct link to private message the moderator team. Refer to the following knowledge base article for additional information on the moderator team.