Fraudulent and illegal mobile number porting is when your personal details are used to ‘port’ (tech speak for transfer) your mobile number to another provider without your consent.
At amaysim we do everything in our power to ensure your data is always as safe as possible, but if you ever suspect your number has been illegally ported, here’s what you need to do:
- Report any suspicious activity to the Australian Federal Police or the relevant State or Territory Police immediately.
- You may also want to report any suspicious activity to Scamwatch and the Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network.
- Contact your bank as soon as you can to see if anyone has accessed your account. If your number has been illegally ported, any verification codes sent to your mobile phone by your bank could be accessed by the scammer, so it’s important to inform your bank immediately, so they can check for any fraudulent transactions.
- It’s also possible that a scammer may have gained access to your social media or email accounts. So, you should change the passwords right away to keep your personal information protected.
Here are some handy tips for keeping your personal information safe
The last thing we want is for you to fall victim to fraud. That really would suck! So, here are a few ways you can reduce your chances of that happening:
- Ask your bank to set up a secret PIN number or password that only you know, to identify yourself when you contact them.
- Be cautious about sharing your mobile number online.
- Check your social media profiles to ensure your mobile number is hidden from public viewing.
- Remove your birthday from public view on your social media accounts.
- Create strong passwords for all your online accounts and don’t use the same password on multiple accounts. If you have lots of online accounts, you might want to consider using a password manager such as 1Password.
- Wherever possible, use two step verification to log in to your online accounts. Two step verification is when you are sent a verification code via SMS or email that needs to be entered before you can log in to an account
- Keep your personal email inbox clean. Delete any phone bills, bank statements and any other emails that include personal information. This way, if your email account is ever compromised, you’ve minimised the risk of a scammer obtaining any of your sensitive information.
It’s better to be safe than sorry, as they say!