Why we need to understand “Porting”
Because the latest victim of porting from the Mackay police district has lost over $19,000 – do we have your attention?
Put simply – porting is the commandeering of your mobile phone, allowing access to all of it’s contents, potentially including passwords and approvals for access (such as security questions for your most sensitive content). A criminal with details of your mobile phone number and limited personal information about you can transfer your account from your phone to their phone. When they do – this is called porting – it can happen very quickly.
It can also happen to any one. Multiple victims live right here in the Mackay police district and we now have another recent incident to refer to. On October 17 a resident of Glenden has spoken to police after waking up one morning and finding his mobile phone not able to utilise mobile phone data. The victim contacted his service provider and was advised that a service provider transfer request had been made from his mobile phone – he was no longer a customer!
But that was not the worst of it – he learned shortly after that two significant money transfers had been processed from a personal bank account by someone else – the person who had control of his mobile phone account.
You can take steps to reduce the chance of being victimised in this fashion :
- Do you allow your mobile phone number to be publicly visible through social media forums? Research shows this is a common go to location for criminals to find it. Check if your mobile phone number is visible in this fashion now.
- What personal information do you share through social media forums? Full and correct name? Date of birth? Could your home address be determined through a close check of information you release? Over-sharing information through social media can hurt you – consider removing sensitive personal information or restricting it. Cyber-criminals often refer to social media as the low hanging fruit of the identity theft world – protect yourself.
- Be wary of unsolicited emails or phone calls that seek you to provide personal information.
- Notice a discrepancy with your mobile phone? Speak to your service provider promptly. If you establish that porting has occurred, contact your financial institution, contact ACORN – report the matter promptly and restrict the damage.
- Once your identity information is lost once – it’s lost for good. Re-victimisation is very common – IDCARE is a victim support agency for any one impacted by, or at risk of identity crime. Their contact number is 1300 432 273.
Source: Mackay Crime Alert
