Can Someone Steal Your Identity With Your Phone Number – The continuous evolution of mobile technology has opened up many opportunities to increase productivity, stay connected with friends and family, find entertainment and keep up with the latest news. However, these benefits come with a cost: They represent new ways for identity thieves to access your personal information through phone scams.
While there’s always some risk when you connect your smartphone or tablet to services, you don’t have to completely give up this great convenience to protect your privacy. If you’re aware of common cell phone scams, you can spot malicious attempts to steal your data and take action against thieves.
Can Someone Steal Your Identity With Your Phone Number
This situation is probably familiar to you: your phone rings from an unknown number. The area code is local, so you answer the call. Perhaps you think a friend or family member has gotten a new number. But when you answer, you are greeted with a few seconds of silence. Finally someone started talking. Sometimes they say you called them and they want to know your name. Other times they ask about your computer’s virus protection.
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These are robocalls, and they get worse every year. In fact, the YouMail Robocall Index found that more than 47.8 billion robocalls were made in the US in 2018, a 56.8% increase over the previous year.
“It’s surprising how many robocalls were made across the country in 2018,” said Alex Quilisi, CEO of YouMail. “We’re now talking about 150 or more robocalls for every adult in the U.S. over the course of a year. Many of these robocallers are unsolicited scammers trying to trick people out of their money or personal information.”
Fraudsters use autodialers and spoofed area codes to trick people into getting the phone. From then on it was a numbers game. Scammers want to get as much personal information as possible from the caller. It can include anything from names and birthdays to credit card numbers.
Fortunately, Congress and the FCC are pushing initiatives to limit robocalls, but until then, it’s best to do your part and work to not answer calls from numbers you don’t know.
Online Identity Theft: Unmasking The Dangers Of Pilotfishing
SMS phishing is a criminal technique that uses text messages as a social engineering channel to obtain a person’s personal information. In this case, social engineering refers to psychological manipulation, such as the tricks artists use to steal from unsuspecting characters.
In this type of scam, a fraudster sends the ‘bait’ via a short code. A short code is a 5-digit phone number. You may have seen them on TV: “Text HEART to 55555 to donate $5!”
Bait is usually something that creates a psychological impulse in the recipient. For example, a common SMS phishing scam tells people they’ve won a big cash prize. Recipients need to send personal information to “verify” their identity. There is of course no cash prize. Some scammers will try to solicit “donations” from unsuspecting people, pretending to represent charities.
If someone steals your smartphone, they can access sensitive information in your apps, change your account preferences, and even access your financial assets. But what if scammers don’t need to steal your phone to do all that? Phone hijacking is exactly that, and in 2017 alone, around 340,000 people fell victim to this type of scam.
Giving Out Your Phone Number Seems Harmless, But It’s An Easy Way To Steal Your Identity
Here’s how it works: A scammer finds information like someone’s name, phone number and physical address online. Once they have enough information, they go to a phone carrier store and upgrade the victim’s account to a brand new phone. The carrier transferred all the information to the new phone and the scammer left. Meanwhile, the victim’s phone is completely switched off.
It may take some time for the actual owner of the phone to realize that something is wrong and take steps to resolve the situation. For example, if their phone is connected to Wi-Fi, they won’t notice they’re not connected to a mobile network until they’re no longer on a Wi-Fi network.
Your mobile phone is just an entry point for fraudsters who want to access your personal information. To learn more about protecting yourself and your financial assets, check out our educational resources today.
Your mobile phone is just an entry point for fraudsters who want to access your personal information. Learn more about protecting yourself.
What To Do If Someone Has Stolen Your Identity During Tax Season
The products and services on this website are offered through Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC, or its affiliates, which are separate entities from and are not affiliated with OnPoint Community Credit Union.
The security and privacy of your information is important to us. When you contact us by email, do not send any information that would be considered confidential or sensitive in nature. If you need to provide personal information (account numbers, social security numbers, etc.) call the number listed on my profile or call OnPoint Member Services at 503.228.7077 or 800.527.3932.
The website you visit is the responsibility of the party providing the website. Any transaction you enter into through this third party website is between you and that seller, merchant or other party. OnPoint’s privacy policy does not apply to this third party site and you should consult the privacy statements of this site for additional information. Identity theft can damage your finances or credit. It may take years for you to recover. So it’s important to pay attention to the warning signs. There are a few things to look out for that may indicate someone else is using your identity.
Use online banking to check your debit and credit card transactions every day. If you notice a transaction or purchase you didn’t make, contact your financial institution immediately to cancel your card and get a new one. If the fraudulent transaction occurred via ACH, you should close your account and open a new one with an uncompromised account number. Our debit Mastercards® have liability-free protection, which means we won’t hold you responsible for unauthorized transactions.
How To Protect Your Iphone Data From Thieves
Keep an eye on your credit report because fraud can damage your credit score, making it very difficult to repair. You can get a free copy of your credit report once a year at www.annualcreditreport.com to review it. All major credit bureaus offer ways to access your credit report and even offer services that send you alerts when there are major changes to your report.
If your regular bills, statements or other important mail suddenly stops arriving, it could indicate that someone has changed your address to intercept sensitive information.
If you start receiving calls or notices about debt you didn’t know you had, someone has used your identity to collect debt under your name.
Identity thieves can file fraudulent tax returns to claim refunds in your name. If you receive a tax refund that you didn’t expect, it could be a red flag.
Surefire Signs Someone Stole Your Identity
Notify the major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion) of possible identity theft. Request a fraud alert or credit freeze to protect your credit.
File a report with your local law enforcement agency and provide them with all relevant information about the identity theft. Report it to the Federal Trade Commission at their identitytheft.gov website. Visit ftc.gov/idtheft for more resources.
If you discover any unauthorized transactions or accounts, notify the financial institutions involved immediately. At Webster First, our debit cards come with free fraud monitoring services through our Card Alert Notification program. So if we see a suspicious transaction, we’ll be the first to tell you.
Almost everyone is on social media and the things you post online can live forever. Even if you delete a message, you never know who might save it in a screenshot. If the answers to your personal account security questions can be found on your social media profile (“What’s your pet’s name? Where did you graduate from high school? etc.) you’ve opened yourself up to the risk of identity theft. Our advice is to Keep the information completely removed from your profiles.
How To Remove A Hacker From My Phone
Consider signing up for an identity theft protection service that can help you identify and respond to potential identity theft incidents. Webster First members can enroll in Mastercard’s ID Theft Protection™ program at no additional cost.
Cancel all cards in your wallet as soon as you realize they are missing. Never carry your Social Security card in your wallet. Someone can use your Social Security number to get government benefits, get licenses or passports, file a tax return, get loans/credit cards, or get a job using your name. It’s best to keep your Social Security card locked up in a safe place where you won’t lose it.
Any personally identifiable information on paper should be shredded before being placed in the trash. You never know who will pick it up once it leaves your property.
Phishing scams are an easy way for identity thieves to get your information because you’ll give it to them.
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