Author: Chris Hoffman / Source: howtogeek.com
Criminals can steal your phone number by pretending to be you, and then moving your number to another phone. They’ll then receive security codes sent via SMS on their phone, helping them gain access to your bank account and other secure services.
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What is a Port Out Scam?
“Port out scams” are a big problem for the entire cellular industry. In this scam, a criminal pretends to be you and moves your current phone number to another cellular carrier. This process is known as “porting,” and is designed to let you keep your phone number when you switch to a new cellular carrier. Any text messages and calls to your phone number are then sent to their phone instead of yours.
This is a big problem because many online accounts, including bank accounts, use your phone number as a two-factor authentication method. They won’t let you sign in without sending a code to your phone first. But, after the porting scam has taken place, the criminal will receive that security code on their phone. They could use it to gain access to your financial accounts and other sensitive services.
Of course, this type of attack is most dangerous if an attacker already has access to your other accounts—for example, if they already have your online banking password, or access to your email account. But it lets the attacker bypass the SMS-based security messages designed to protect you in this situation.
This attack is also known as SIM hijacking, as it moves your phone number from your current SIM card to the attacker’s SIM card.
How Does a Port Out Scam Work?
This scam has a lot in common with identity theft. Someone with your personal information pretends to be you, asking your cellular carrier to move your phone number to a new phone. The cellular carrier will ask them to provide some personal information to identify themselves, but often providing your social security number is good enough. In a perfect world, your social security number would be private—but, as we’ve seen, many Americans’ social security numbers have leaked in breaches of many big businesses.
If the person can successfully fool your cellular carrier, the switch takes place and any SMS messages sent to you and phone calls intended for you will be routed to their phone. Your phone number is associated with their phone, and your current phone won’t have phone call, texting, or data service anymore.
This is really just another variation of a social engineering attack. Someone calls a company pretending to be someone else…
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