T-Mobile Confirms Massive SIM Hijacking Threat
T-Mobile recently confirmed that they had observed an increase in activities that could lead to SIM hijacking threats.
Since last month, T-Mobile customers in the United States have been receiving a text message alert about "an industry-wide phone number port out scam." It also came with a link to a T-Mobile page where subscribers were advised "to add account security."
Talking to Motherboard, T-Mobile confirmed that the text message alert was authentic and that it was being rolled out to their "entire post-paid customer base." However, the mobile carrier also clarified that some subscribers might receive it later than others since this process "can't be done all at once."
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The port out scam is also commonly known as SIM hijacking mainly due to how it operates. An attacker only needs to impersonate the target victim and call or visit T-Mobile to request for a new SIM card linked to the real user's phone number.
And since many social media, email, and online banking accounts now use phone numbers as a layer of security when logging in or making transactions, porting out a SIM ultimately gives the hijacker access to sensitive information that could lead to more serious fraudulent activities and theft.
Reports now suggest that the increase in SIM hijacking activities affecting T-Mobile subscribers might still be an effect of when hackers previously exploited a vulnerability on the carrier's official website. The glitch allowed hackers to access customer details for months until T-Mobile was able to fix the issue.
Meanwhile, T-Mobile subscribers are highly encouraged to call the designated hotline numbers -- 611 on a T-Mobile phone and 1-800-937-8997 on other networks -- to activate the port validation feature. Doing so, customers will then be asked to "create a 6-to-15-digit passcode" that is different from their original My T-Mobile password or PIN.
Once activated, the anti-port-out passcode will be required once T-Mobile gets a request for a new or duplicate SIM.
