Forum Discussion
Fraudulent Sale of My SIM card
Yesterday, someone went into a T-Mobile retail store used a fake California Drivers License to buy a copy of my SIM card. Fortunately, I received a text message stating that a SIM card had been issued to my account. I called T-Mobile Customer Service and the Rep told me how I was compromised, helped me change my SIM card and reported the fraud. I was concerned regarding how related accounts on my phone might be compromised. She suggested that i change all passwords used on my phone and tried to connect me to t-mobile fraud prevention. She was unable to connect me before my call was terminated (dropped).
I called customer service again and a new rep was very helpful and informed me he would try to get someone from fraud to talk to me, then told me that they had gone home but would call me today. I did not get this call so this morning I called again and was told that I could not talk to the fraud group, they had no contact information to give me and that they would complete a form reporting my problem but could not give me any indication that my case would be escalated to security or fraud prevention.
Here are my questions:
- Will T-Mobile file a police report regarding the fraud?
- Will T-Mobile investigate any further?
- How was this person able to get into my account with a fake ID and what other personal information did this person use to get into my account
- Will T-Mobile security/fraud ever contact me to tell me the implications of someone gaining access to my SIM card
- What does T-Mobile do to prevent this type of fraud
If you were victimized in a similar way what did you learn?
Robert
Hello Mike I saw your name on a thread about someone who had a SIM card for his phone taken fraudulently by someone who faked his ID. I want to make sure that if a new/replacement SIM card is ever made/taken on any of the phones on my family account that I get alerted immediately on phone as well as by email (since someone may have stolen my phone). There seems to be no place on my Account portion of the TMobile website that I can setup such text and email alerts? The webpage you linked you in this earlier thread is pretty generic and basic and is clearly not the place to set up such alerts. Gracias.
Yeah, I wonder if the same hacker initiated a sim swap attack on me. The dates that the hacker was able to infiltrate my accounts were on the 7th and 8th of January before they attempting to hack me again roughly 6 weeks later.
I am not at liberty to go into great detail but its apparent that the person is not using a fake California ID and is no stranger to Tmobile.
I found multiple numbers the person used, one of them had at least 50 devastating comments ranging from individuals financial accounts being drained, to marriages being destroyed or children being taken from their parents because they no longer had money to support them, to individuals conveying they were going to commit suicide. One of the numbers the hacker bounced off of had no comments at all, and I know its the golden ticket.
Tmobile has been well aware of sim swap attacks for years and never did anything to protect their clientele.
The Experian hack a few years ago acquired 21 million names and everything about those individuals; phone numbers, addresses, social security numbers, etc... and guess what, all 21 million names that were stolen, all Tmobile account holders.
Tmobiles response; free credit checks for a year.
How about improving your security measures? Requiring just a persons last 4 digits of their social security number to obtain a new sim card is reckless, especially after the Experian hack and when the company knows these other hacks are occurring and their customers lives are being destroyed because of it.
How about security questions just like your competitors or similar to the ones you use for when we sign on to these online accounts?
I havent even begun to scratch the surface of what transpired in regards to my situation.
The only remaining details I can inform you of right now is that 10s of thousands of dollars in crypto (worth hundreds of thousands just a few months ago and will be worth at least that amount a few months from now) was stolen from me and Tmobile was complacent.
The only reason I am still with Tmobile is because after hours of conversations with representatives and repeatedly conveying to them what had happened to me I was finally able to speak to a higher up and have unprecedented security measures applied to my account that has eliminated the possibility of this travesty ever happening again to me.
Its unlikely that other carriers which dont have a relationship with me would integrate the protocol I demanded from Tmobile so Im stuck underneath two enormous boulders.
The third time the hacker attempted a sim swap attack they were unsuccessful because of the safeguards now in place but 99.9999% of Tmobiles customers do not have the security that I do which is incredibly unfortunate and will be damning to many of them.
Hopefully with enough lawsuits Tmobile and all other providers will begin properly integrating the necessary security measures to safeguard individuals from being robbed of their finances in addition to being robbed of their dignity and livelihood.
People are suffering in inconceivable ways and in most situations Tmobile has done absolutely nothing to assist them or even taken the necessary steps to stop these absurdities from happening to others and causing more hardships.
I wish you all success and happiness.
At least you are not liable for those fraudulent charges. I believe I only have one account that has my CC. It is PayPal. I remember several years ago I received a call from one of my CC's. Did I buy a pair of shoes in Italy? I quickly said no. The reply was great, you are not responsible for that purchase. I came close to letting T-Mobile have my CC number for when I needed to add funds. When you wrote about that breach it ain't gonna happen. I hope they catch those SO#s. Thanks for sharing your experience!
I had someone hack into my Walmart online account and order several unlocked phones using my credit card that was stored in my account. I noticed that these savvy crooks changed my email address to an address that looks similar to mine... and they had the merchandise shipped to a different address that was listed on my account... the funny thing was, that this person hacked my account, used my credit card and Walmart was actually protecting the identity of the theif...lol. They would not provide any information about the person, or the address and phone number they used. A company should protect the interest of the customers not hide the information of the criminal. Luckily i was able to go into my account and look at my profile and screenshot the address the theif used. Im sure it was one of those mailing portal po boxes.... but at least i felt like i had some information to ease my nerves.
I really wouldn't expect T-Mobile to keep you in the loop regarding someone hacking into your account. They may handle this matter internally or maybe not... you will probably never know. Companies don't share information to the consumer or public inorder to minimize how large this problem may actually be.
I received a document in the mail involving a class action lawsuit against T-Mobile for a data breach that occured some time ago... I ripped it up and tossed it in the trash..... i don't like getting involved in those things.... and what If that class action lawsuit paper was a scam also... and stupid me...fill this information out and the scammers get more personal info from me.... GoTcHa 😠
i hope your dilemma gets rectified in the end...
thank you
I like your breakfast better than Wheaties. 😊
You had your Wheaties this morning, didn't you? I had oatmeal and 2 cinnamon english muffins with 4 cups of coffee.
Yes. Troubleshooting, and changes that need account verification.
So, are these the reps that are assigned to TROUBLESHOOTING?
Nuestra Equipo de Expertos (TEX) are customer services folks you speak with over the phone. They're a good resource if you're not using social media.
