Can Someone Open Cell Phone Service In My Name

A gloved hand stealing a phone from someone's back pocket. — Cunaplus/Shutterstock

A new type of phone theft is on the rising. Instead of stealing phones straight from you, thieves impersonate you to get brand new smartphones from your cellular carrier and stick you with the nib. Here'southward what's going on.

What Is Account Hijacking?

Outright smartphone theft is getting harder to pull off and less lucrative. We're more careful with our phones than we used to be and—starting with the iPhone—more smartphones offering encryption and lost phone tools out of the box. So, some criminals take adopted a new tactic. Instead of messing with stolen phones and worrying about activation issues, they pose as you and order new phones on your business relationship.

The scam works well for a diversity of reasons. The criminal gets to take advantage of any telephone deals your business relationship is eligible for, paying as picayune as possible upwards-front (perhaps, fifty-fifty null at all), and you may not notice until it's too late. Upgrading your existing lines is the more noticeable method considering your phones cease working, then some criminals add new lines, instead. With that route, you may not realize what's happened until the side by side bill comes. And, if you have your telephone neb ready for automatic payment, you could miss it for longer than that.

In some cases, the point isn't to steal phones. Criminals may upgrade your lines as a means to take your number through SIM swapping. Your phone number is transferred to a phone they accept, which they tin can then use to hijack any accounts that rely on your phone number as a recovery selection.

How Criminals Hijack Cell Telephone Accounts

The words "Identity Theft" over $100 bills. — Borka Kiss/Shutterstock

At this bespeak, you might wonder how a criminal can buy smartphones with someone else's account. Unfortunately, nosotros've discovered more than one answer to that question.

Sometimes, the perpetrator steals your identity, creates a fake ID with your proper noun and his photo, and then goes to a retail shop to buy the phones. You might call up that method could only occur close to where yous are but, as Lorrie Cranor, a quondam principal technologist for the FTC found out, that's not the case at all. She discovered her phones turned off afterward someone posing as her, multiple states away, upgraded her lines to new iPhones. You can discover similar complaints on telephone carriers' forums as well.

In 2017, Cleveland police arrested three men after linking them to $65,000 worth of cell phone theft, mostly through the use of fake IDs.

In other cases, simple phishing tactics are at play. In early on 2019, Verizon customers in Florida started receiving calls about suspected fraud. The representative told the victims they needed to verify their identity and, to do and then, Verizon would ship a Pin. They would then need to read the Pin to the person on the phone.

But the person on the telephone wasn't an employee from Verizon. It was the fraudster the victim had just been warned near. In this case, the thief generated an actual Verizon PIN, nigh probable past using the account recovery process. When the victim received the PIN and handed it over, they gave the criminal the very details they needed to go into the account and order new smartphones. Thankfully, Verizon employees noticed other reddish flags and chosen the constabulary, merely that doesn't ever happen.

In late 2018, twelve people were accused of hacking into people'southward online accounts, calculation or upgrading lines, and and then shipping the new hardware elsewhere. Earlier constabulary caught upward with them, it's believed the perpetrators managed to obtain over $i million worth of devices. They used information purchased on the dark web from data breaches or, in some cases, sent phishing messages to steal account info.

What to Practice if Your Account Is Hijacked

What to Do Right Away if you're a victim of identity theft checklist on the FTC's website. — identitytheft.gov

If y'all're the victim of account hijacking, it may experience like there'southward nothing you tin do, just that's not true. You shouldn't accept to pay for a service yous didn't desire, and phones you don't accept. Get a pen and newspaper and take notes on the process. Write down which companies you chosen, the appointment and time, and the name of any person y'all spoke with. Take notes on what the company representatives say—especially if they hope to accept activeness or ask you to follow upwardly with more information or paperwork. The FTC put together a helpful checklist to follow, and we'll exist covering some of those steps as well.

Starting time, call your phone carrier and explain the situation. Ask if they have a fraud department. If they practice, ask to be transferred. Explicate the situation and inquire for help solving the trouble. Find out precisely what proof they need from you and write everything down. You should also ask if your account can be frozen and if yous tin can add a PIN validation (or other security measures) to prevent anyone from adding more lines to your account.

Next, place a fraud alarm on all your credit accounts. You might besides consider freezing your credit. A credit freeze should forestall anyone from opening an entirely new business relationship in your name but, unfortunately, it might non prevent upgrade and add-a-line fraud. Many phone carriers bypass a credit cheque in favor of checking billing history for existing customers. Nevertheless, a credit freeze could prevent other kinds of fraud, so it'south worth it.

With a credit freeze in place, it'due south time to report the fraud to your local police department. Call or visit them and inquire how to report the situation. Exist sure to take any proof on hand, like bills from the added lines. Explain what happened and get a copy of all the paperwork.

Now, contact your phone carrier again with any paperwork they requested (including the constabulary written report) and inquire how to reverse all charges if it hasn't already been done.

Be prepared for this process to take some time—sometimes, days or weeks. Go on a log of everyone you contact and every step y'all have. This prevents you from repeating unnecessary steps and gives you lot a semblance of control over the process.

How to Prevent Account Hijacking

You can have steps to prevent business relationship hijacking from occurring in the first place (or over again). Because how easy identity theft is, the main goal is to put additional barriers in place. Thankfully, the 4 major carriers do accept options. Unfortunately, while Sprint and Verizon make that actress security a requirement for all new customers, AT&T and T-Mobile practise non.

If you lot're a Verizon customer, you should take gear up up a 4-digit account Pivot when you lot started the service. If you lot didn't, or you forgot your Pivot, go to the company's Pin FAQ page, and click on the "Alter Account Pivot" link. Log in with your Verizon account when prompted.

Sprint also requires a Pivot every bit part of a customer's account setup, then if y'all're with Sprint, you should already take one. Sprint also requires a security question as a fill-in and lets you lot pick from a list. Endeavour to pick a question that can't easily exist found in a Google search. If you lot forgot your Pin, y'all can sign in to your online business relationship and change it in the Security & Preferences section.

AT&T customers aren't required to gear up a PIN, but you should. Yous'll demand to log into AT&T's online portal. Look for two options: Get a new passcode and Manage extra security. Yous should go through both of these processes. Manage actress security merely tells AT&T to enquire for your passcode in more situations, like managing your account in a retail store.

Past default, T-Mobile asks account verification questions to determine identity. You tin can set up a PIN to use instead, but the only mode to do so is to call them. From a T-Mobile phone, you lot can utilise 611. T-Mobile has two options: an account security PIN and a port out Pivot. They protect dissimilar things, so yous might want to set both.

If you're using a service other than the four major carriers, y'all should bank check its support site or telephone call customer service to observe out what security options y'all tin fix, and how to add them.

One time you have your PINs set, it wouldn't hurt to remember in a day or two and verify that they ask for it. The process is straightforward, and you lot probably won't run into any issues. Peace of mind and a little practice using your new Pin is worth the time spent—especially if yous discover something did become wrong, and your carrier didn't set your Pin correctly.