Telus-owned prepaid brand, Public Mobile, is warning its customers about SIM swap fraud, confirming cases of the scam among its customer base.
On Friday, Public Mobile announced in its online community, “we’ve noticed some cases of SIM swap fraud, and wanted to help our customers better understand what SIM swap fraud is, what to do if you’ve been targeted, and how to prevent it in the future.”
SIM swap fraud is when scammers take control of your phone number through your wireless provider. They port your wireless number over to their own, and this enables them to start taking over your other accounts, as your wireless number can be used to reset passwords or access one-time passcodes.
Public Mobile says, “you may have been a target of SIM swap fraud if you have suddenly lost service for no apparent reason.” The company instructs users to log in to their Self Serve account and head to the ‘Change SIM card’ menu to see if your online SIM matches the SIM inside your device.
If you have been victim of SIM swap fraud, Public Mobile advises you to change your account to “lost/stolen phone” via Self Serve, then submit a ticket to the company’s moderator team to restore your original SIM card.
In order to protect yourself from SIM swap fraud, Public Mobile says customers should share little information online, use strong and unique passwords and also setup two-factor authentication methods that aren’t linked to text messages.
