Introduction
I’m sure you’ve heard in the news and whatnot of people having their numbers ported out from T-Mobile to another carrier. I, like many people, assumed, “Oh this probably won’t happen to me.” Well, it happened to one of my readers. His SO’s phone number was ported out to another carrier, and the person when hacked into her Wells Fargo account and withdrew the money. No word on the outcome of that (I’m guessing the bank is liable since it was fraudulent use.) That incident hit way too close to home for me.
Do it over Twitter
I sent a DM to the Twitter team. They responded within a minute and gave me a link to “link my Twitter account with my Tmobile account.” Once I did that, they gave me a second link to create a 6-10 digit PIN number. And that was it. Should take you 2-5 minutes if they aren’t too busy. Easier to do that than dealing with your bank or whatever other accounts they hack into once they have your phone number. Don’t be like this guy. I’m not sure if the other carriers have this issue or this security feature, but you should look into it.
This is exactly what happened to me, including a Wells Fargo hack. I got a text saying “Welcome to another carrier” and from there my service stopped. When I called into T-Mobile they knew exactly what was happening because the first question the tech asked me was “Have you tried to log into your financial accounts?” Sure enough I was locked out of my Wells Fargo account. In addition the thieves tried to send a $2500 payment out from my account.
Is there a way to protect port-ing thieves via T-Mobile? Why were you doing it thru Twitter? Is T-Mobile or Twitter the entity that is vulnerable? Sorry but you have me freaking out too!! Thank you for the warning – just hoping that you can further explain. BTW I’m a non-tweeter.
No you can call 611 to do it too. I’m lazy and like to multi task, so that’s why I chose the Twitter route.