Coworkers number got stolen
 

My co-worker, a Fido customer, recently had his number ported and stolen. I hadn't even thought of this being a thing but apparently they steal the number and then do various things to try and get text authentication to bank accounts and such.
How the hell does someone do this? Fido's only answer was "go buy a new sim card and we'll port the number back to you" problem is, where we live there is no Fido resources so getting a new sim card isn't possible. Now Fido has to mail him one, taking about 4-5 days and the whole time someone else is using his number.
I would think there would be some safeguards in place to prevent this from happening? How can I prevent this from possibly happening to me or my friends?

Berz out.

if you want to minimize the damage from phone number hijacking, don't use SMS 2factor auth. use an authenticator app if possible like google auth or authy, etc.

that way they don't get sent the code to the hijacked number.

you can't really prevent the port 100% of the time.
it mostly relies on the reps to look at the account and read the notes, and also follow them if they say that they need to verify the person they are talking to is who they say they are with a password or something.
you would think verifying a person is who they say they are would be common sense, but it seems it is not lol.

I thought they verify your account before anything can be touched. When I call in, they ask for my security pin #, if I can't provide that. They ask other questions to verify.

there are always some reps who don't give a flying fuck at a donut and don't verify.

Not all services give you the option to use authentication apps.

Regular verification is fine, but when a port order comes in from another carrier it's automated. If the order details match up, it gets put through. Back when porting started, the barrier to move a number was set low, so that it was easier to move numbers. The old isn't supposed to question the order if all the details for the order match, it goes. I have a feeling they're going to tighten up the rules to prevent this kind of fraud.
Chances are your friend may have had weak security codes/passwords or they got reused or someone phished his details.
Customer friendly venues like online chat to contact customer service have just made it easier for fraudsters to pretend to be legit customers.

had something similar happen by accident, some dude registered a new # and calling in my home # went to his while calling out from my # was from 'my number'. took a lot of time for me to sort it out and figure it out. i actually ended up talking to the guy by calling my own # to realize what happened and to sort it out. it was almost a month of that bs

telus said they used my # as a temp while they set up his # but didn't realize it was registered to someone, though it was weird i can call out as my # but calling in was redirected.

https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurre...ng_to_hack_me/

Another similar situation.

Luckily my crypto is all in a hardware wallet and all my important accounts are locked down with 2FA tied to my devices.