I had a pre-paid phone for the longest time (in the states). I kept pre-paying it even after I moved to Japan because I needed the SMS codes that were occasionally sent to my number. This was with T-mobile.
One day T-mobile just took my number and said you no longer have this number. No warning, nothing. Talk about a great way to get any non-2FA accounts hijacked... just gave the number to someone else. This was despite me having frequently re-filling the balance and using the number every week.
Is this crazy or what... I even checked to see if maybe they discontinued the pre-paid program at that time, but nope, it was still up and running (no idea if it is now).
Replies (40)
How much more proof that phone numbers suck do people need?
Right... I have 2FA on everything now (I think), but at the time I did not and it really freaked me out.
And that is is where ultimately all the spam protection mechanisms of the internet rely upon.
Scary
Doesn't seem like a targeted attack and therefore you probably didn't loose anything, but it could have very much been one.
That is scary
Who knows… as far as I know nothing was accessed. I added 2FA instantly on everything I could think of on the day of this nonsense. I just couldn’t believe something like that could happen. I had that number for ages.
That's bad. You could pay for online SMS services like
LNVPN - Disposable Phone Numbers for SMS Verification
Get instant disposable phone numbers for SMS verification. Pay with Bitcoin, no KYC required.
to deal with most accounts, and for the ones that don't work with that setup (maybe banks and the like) ask friends/family for their +1 number - it depends on how often you use it though
INCREDIBLY FUCKED UP. HOPEFULLY WE MAKE PHONE NUMBERS OBSOLETE SOON.
UNTIL THEN I HIGHLY RECOMMEND SILENT LINK.
That's a hell of a rug-pull.
Yeah I was aware of some. It just came as a shock that my own provider sim swapped me after years of being a customer.
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Yeah fking crazy
No bots were victims of FTX
Can't use pre-paid numbers for things that matter.
And fuck sms 2FA.
This is a serious issue. To get into any secure account, SMS messages are part of the 2 FA, and God help the one who doesn’t have that phone number for whatever reason.
I had this happen once for using too much data on my unlimited data plan. lol And I remember being perplexed because it was only 30GB. Yeah, probably high(?), but it didn't seem unreasonable for a plan that touted how great it was to stream, etc on their unlimited plan. Phone plans are mostly scams like this anyway. I'd be happy to be rid of them.
Infuriating!!!!🤬🤬🤬
on tor, I think
IT IS BECAUSE PRIMAL GOT HIT WITH A DDOS SO IS TEMPORARILY USING CLOUD FLARE.
WORKING ON A BETTER SOLUTION.
I been using Silent Link. I can confirm it works well. Sorry to hear how shitty T Mobile just treated you. These companies are so terrible. They leak our data every other week too with no consequences
they are literally accomplices to the scammers and grifters who are using that data too, in addition to derelict in their duty of care
Yeah, everything that goes through telcomms gets funnelled off to 3 letter agencies too. Scum of the earth
Wait.
How much money would you actually need for something like that?
The Graphene people also tried to make this happen for years.
happened to me too exactly like that but in another country… not your sim not you number
I would guess because your monthly usage was over a certain percentage "out of market" or however they phrase the roaming stuff.
Back in the day when long term contracts with the telecom companies were standard, an easy way to get them to cancel your contract so that you didn't get hit with a penalty for cancelling it yourself if you wanted out was to make sure a certain amount of your usage was out of your home area. That would drive their cost for your account up and they had a policy of dropping people for that
wen nostr 2FA standard
Simjacked by your own carrier? I can't wait to ditch phone numbers for good
How much longer do you think?
Les règles RGPD qui normalement étaient créées pour recadrer les GAFAM n'ont fait qu'empirer la donne en acceptant ou declinant des cookies voire les paramétrer par choix mais à condition qu'un usager normal connaîsse réellement les noms de tous les partenaires dont les identités sont toutes aussi nébuleuses infine il accepte par contrainte pour accéder à l'information, l'usage en ligne ... Un monde de dingue je préfère le Web d'avant et pour le P2P j'ai des doutes en termes d'éthique de responsabilité
Every single fuckin time T-mobile comes off as sketchy. Like why the hell do they have any customers at all?
T-Mobile recently changed & raised prices on all their plans. I've been a customer over 20yrs so wasn't happy when I saw the announcement that my plan would be eliminated & I'd be paying $10 more per month. I called them & fortunately as I've been with them so long they are keeping me on my original plan. Pretty sure none of this stuff would be happening if their former CEO John Legere was still there.
Cheaper than Verizon and more reliable than AT&T
When I change careers. Not much longer now fortunately
What they want is a "post-paid" number because it is tied to national identity number (SSN/SIN). At the same time, the telcos lose all your account info every few years. And by doing so, your precious "never share" identity info is meaningless because everyone has it. There needs to be real enforcement and penalties for losing your info that you can't change. Like very punitive to the point the companies no longer want your data.
Since this will never happen, I am down the path of just not sharing data. I don't do business with companies that demand this info for service. Prepaid should be the default, I'll decide to extend credit for a month or not. At worst, the company goes bankrupt and I lose a month's money sent to the company.
Post-paid and anti-fraud is a scam. I worked in this industry and it's all snake oil. No matter how much companies spend on this crap, their fraud rates don't change. KYC is a failed joke. KYC is about control, not stopping fraud or crime.
Prepaid also requires full KYC in Brazil.
KYX/AML is about control, not fraud.
Effective AML
The biggest problem with AML
Huge market for AML, no market for effective AML.
this guy wrote an amazing paper about how ineffective KYC/AML is around the world. Now he's turned it into a business.
Lot's of places require KYC for prepaid, because otherwise "terrorists" win or something. Genuflect to the USA Patriotic Act first please.
There’s levels of control that people don’t even realize because it’s so engrained in our way of life. Most people here in the US would be using phone plans, so to hear stories like this can be eye opening!
