Another year has now begun, and the team at the Blue Gryphon would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year 2020!
We would like to start off this year by sharing with you an important life lesson we were just served, may it serve you well!
If there is one advice we can give everyone at the beginning of this new year, it is this one:
If you do not have it set up already, contact your mobile phone provider if you have a cellphone, and ask them if you can add a PIN number or extra layers of security to your phone account.
Our master gryphon very recently learned, the hard way, that it is EXCESSIVELY easy for a fraudster to steal your phone number (have YOUR number transferred to THEIR phone, to a new provider).
All they need is your phone number, name, and 2 (optional) personal informations. Given that there were many huge data breaches in 2019 and millions of people now have their personal info in the wind… Just assume someone has yours.
Service providers (like Bell Mobility) will ask nothing more, and even told us that they technically are not even obligated to ask for ID to transfer your number to their service.
And the transfer is very fast (under an hour). So a fraudster can very quickly use your phone number to have a password recovery code sent to your (now their) phone # to gain access to accounts you may *think* you have secured by using this method (like hotmail/microsoft, to name just one).
Trust us: You cannot be too careful. Protect your phone account.
Laws have been modified to make the processus so simple to transfer between providers that it is now an open bar for identity thieves.
May our misadventure save you from going through the same thing.
With that said, may you all have a great year 2020!
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