Thousands of TracFone, Straight Talk numbers stolen — what you need to do
Thousands of TracFone, Straight Talk numbers stolen — what you lot demand to exercise
Updated with annotate from Verizon.
Bad people have stolen, or "ported out," the cellphone numbers of most half-dozen,000 customers of TracFone, Straight Talk, Total Wireless and possibly other prepaid cellular carriers in the past couple of months, according to reports today (Jan. 26) in The Wall Street Periodical and The Verge.
The to a higher place brands, plus Net10 Wireless, Simple Mobile and Walmart Family Mobile, all operate under the umbrella of TracFone Wireless, itself a newly caused Verizon subsidiary as of November 2021. It's not notwithstanding articulate whether customers of the latter three brands were also afflicted.
"Nosotros were recently made aware of bad actors gaining admission to a express number of client accounts and, in some cases, fraudulently transferring, or porting out, mobile phone numbers to other carriers," said an undated security alert posted on the TracFone Wireless website.
"These bad actors may take had admission to your proper noun, accost, PIN code, account number, surreptitious question (but not respond) and email address to the extent you provided us with such data."
TracFone's message, all the same, only hints at the fact that losing a cellphone number to thieves can lead to a nightmarish spiral of account thefts and monetary loss.
Tom's Guide has reached out to Verizon for comment, and nosotros will update this story when we receive a reply.
What y'all need to do if y'all're a TracFone customer
If yous have an account with any of the six brands mentioned above, this is a potentially bad situation. You should immediately change your carrier-account PIN and, if possible, the business relationship's secret question and answer. Links to do and so via a web browser are embedded in the TracFone security alarm page.
TracFone's security warning said it had tried to contact all afflicted customers, "but given the nature of this activity, messages to impacted mobile telephone numbers may no longer be attainable past some customers."
In other words, some customers might not fifty-fifty be told their accounts accept been stolen considering they won't be able to sent or receive text messages or phone calls.
"If yous experience a sudden loss of service, or are having difficulty with a number transfer," TracFone said, "please contact customer service at 1-800-353-1842."
What you lot need to do if you know or doubtable your TracFone number has been stolen
Unfortunately, for those customers whose numbers have indeed been stolen, the situation may get a lot worse. That'southward because cellphone numbers are unfortunately now used equally a means of verifying your identity.
If y'all've been directly contacted about this outcome by Net10 Wireless, Elementary Mobile, Straight Talk, Full Wireless, TracFone or Walmart Family unit Mobile — or your service on i of those carriers suddenly no longer works — then yous demand to change the passwords on any online accounts you lot accept that may use your cellphone number as a fashion to verify your identity.
This is considering many online services, including some banks, social networks, cryptocurrency exchanges and email providers, volition confirm account-password changes merely later on the legitimate user supplies a temporary code that has been texted to them.
Many implementations of two-cistron authentication apply like texted codes to confirm the identity of a person logging into an account from a new device or location.
All such account-verification processes are jeopardized past port-out scams. If crooks take the phone numbers, then they tin change the passwords on many of the number holders' online accounts.
Of course, if the crooks take already changed the password on an account, then you won't be able to alter it yourself. You'll take to contact the online service via telephone or e-mail and explain what happened. Be prepared to bound through hoops to verify your identity.
Cellphone numbers are meant to be temporary and transferable, and wireless carriers treat them as such. Just online services oftentimes regard cellphone numbers as fixed points of personal identity when they shouldn't be seen that way at all. That's not the carriers' fault, but it is the reality.
How this happened is a mystery
TracFone's posting didn't mention how the crooks were able to take over six,000 accounts, and that number actually comes from what a Verizon spokeswoman told the Journal.
Number port-out scams are frequently carried out past calling client-service representatives at wireless carriers and disarming or tricking them into transferring phone numbers to other devices. In some instances, carrier personnel have been bribed to transfer numbers, particularly when the number belongs to a person who has a lot of coin in the bank or in online cryptocurrency accounts.
We don't know whether either of those scenarios happened in this instance, and the Verizon spokeswoman told the Journal that "we have no reason to think that this was caused by anybody on the inside."
But, TracFone may not accept been as diligent equally it could have been when it received a number-transfer request.
Many of the stolen TracFone numbers appear to have been transferred to Metro, a rival low-price prepaid cellular service operated by T-Mobile. It's not clear if there were whatsoever "SIM swap" incidents, in which a cellular number is transferred to a new SIM card on the same carrier.
A spokeswoman for that company told The Verge that "there is no fraud or data breach of any sort on the T-Mobile side of these port-outs."
If at that place'south a silver lining in this potentially horrible situation, it's that the incidents take forced Verizon to rapidly beef up the security of TracFone's number-transfer procedure.
"Since uncovering this fraudulent action, we have fabricated enhancements to improve the security of your mobile business relationship," says the TracFone security detect.
"For case, when a request to transfer a number is made, we will ship a text-message notification to your device to alert you to the request. This bulletin volition include the number yous should call if y'all did non authorize the transfer."
"Additionally, we will besides send you a text bulletin containing a unique lawmaking (a 'Number Transfer PIN' or 'Port Pin') that must exist provided to the new carrier before a transfer can be completed," the message added.
"This code should just exist provided to your new carrier when you are making your transfer request. We will never call you lot and ask you for this code."
That's commendable, merely other cellular carriers, such as AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon itself, have had such safeguards against port-out scams in place for years. The real question is why TracFone obviously didn't.
Update: Response from Verizon
A Verizon spokesperson responded to our query with the following annotate:
"Unwanted or forced number transfer (likewise known as port-out fraud) is an issue that affects the entire wireless communications industry. That's why nosotros work with others in the industry, our trade association and law enforcement to address these problems as they arise. Stopping these fraudulent activities is as important to TracFone Wireless, Inc. as it is to our customers.
"Nosotros recently became enlightened of bad actors fraudulently transferring, or porting out, some TracFone mobile phone numbers to other carriers. Since uncovering this activity, nosotros fabricated security enhancements to customers' mobile accounts and are working directly with customers who have been impacted."
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/news/tracfone-mass-port-out-number-theft
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