T-Mobile customers received text messages warning them of a port out scam that has been spreading around and refers them to a link in the website that will explain what it is all about. Lest people think that the text itself is a scam, it is apparently real and not many people are aware of it. It can lead to identity theft, accessing your money, and even transferring valuable assets, all because they were able to get access to your T-Mobile account.
Someone who will pretend to be you will call the carrier and get your number switched to a different SIM card. They will then be able to call your bank and other financial institutions and impersonate you to gain access to your accounts and maybe even be able to spend the money. If you’ve ever been a victim of identity theft, you know how difficult it all is, so T-Mobile wants you to be more cautious and offers some ways you can protect yourself.
You can call a toll-free number or you can also call 611 from your T-Mobile phone so you can add a PIN code to your T-Mobile phone line. This is the code you will give once you call their customer service and ask your number to be transferred. This is different from the password to your T-Mobile account and in fact, it should be substantially different so that whoever is trying to access you cannot guess either.
Even if you think you will never be hacked or victimized, it’s still better to be safe than sorry later on if ever malicious parties get access to your T-Mobile account. Other carriers also offer an added security layer so that things like this don’t happen, so go research about them.
VIA: SlashGear
Regardless of if its in the customer’s best interest, T-Mobile may very well be in violation of FCC Laws related to number portability by asking for another piece of data to verify the account.
Number Portability Laws are written so when a cuatomer legitimately cancels, the loosing company has no say. When we cancelled T-Mobile, they still billed the account for 2 full months. We spent 2 hours explaining to T-Mobile they had no right to bill our family plan for months, when they weren’t providing service to us anymore. We had to talk to 3 people in “retention” department to get that credit.
With number portability laws, the data provided to T-Mobile by the new company is required to match data T-Mobile has on file. But to ensure accuracy and to get this data, the account holder still has to contact T-Mobile to set (or reset) an account specific PIN or password, verify the account billing number (BAN), and also the billing address.. Now a Port-Out Confirmation too..? What’s next? A doctor’s note? Give me a break.
But given the number of hacks and breaches T-Mobile had over the years, it seems the biggest issue is T-Mobile’s relatively lax security measures and willingness to provide all this detail to anyone who asks.
I’d love to put my tin foil hat on and say that T-Mobile is actually introducing this request for more (and additional data) to combat high churn rate but who really knows for sure; but this additional data requirement makes it difficult to legitimately switch. News like this creates warped justification for new hoops people have to jump through because securing customer data is an afterthought in the first place.
-You are saying that number portability should be easy by FCC standards, which it is.
-Then you are complaining that T-Mobile is adding a security layer of a PIN to port out.
Unfortunately, there is a currently problem with people getting ported out, and part of it is b/c it is so easy…..
If someone gets your basic info, they can port out. Therefore, T-mobile is actually following the rules by making it easy.
Now, for those who are afraid of this easy process, they can OPT for PIN. But of course they don’t have to either. It’s called a choice.
So, what’s the problem again???