How Hackers Steal Your Phone Number
Hackers can hijack your mobile phone number in the same way they can take over your email account. Known as porting, cybercriminals use stolen personal information to impersonate you and contact your mobile carrier to make changes to your account. The term porting comes from Wireless Local Number Portability (WLNP), a law dating back to 2003 that requires carriers to allow mobile users to move their existing number to a new carrier.

To help prevent this from happening, use the Identity Theft Reports feature to track multiple logins and ensure none of your data is breached:

Read More: More fake apps are causing real losses

The Impact of a Stolen Number
Once hackers port your phone number, they can change passwords and security questions on your account, add unauthorized charges to your bill such as long distance calls, text charges and data usage fees and even add additional devices and services.  Additionally, they can bypass two-factor identification such as verification codes texted to you for security purposes.

There are several ways you can protect yourself and prevent thieves from porting your number.

ONE, keep your number safe is to use an alternate Virtual Phone Number (also called a VOIP). These services are readily available and you can keep your real number private and set up the service to forward calls and texts to your phone.

TWO, regularly check your monthly statement for suspicious charges and activity.  If your service is abruptly disconnected or you begin receiving authentication codes you didn’t request, you should contact your service provider immediately.  

THIRD, dfndr security also protects your phone from phishing attacks. Features like Anti-hacking can alert you to potential malware links in texts, messengers apps, and emails.  

FOURTH, never give out sensitive information from anyone that contacts you directly claiming to be a representative from a company you do business with. Instead, find out what they are calling about, what information they need and why, and then contact the business at a published number to verify the problem.

Read More: How to Password Protect Facebook and WhatsApp

Effect #1 – Financial Loss
The most severe consequence of identity theft is the loss of personal funds. Often times, fraudulent purchases made using stolen credit or debit card information is covered by the bank or company issuing the card. Sometimes, though, money that’s stolen through other means such as wire fraud or bogus money orders or cashier’s checks can be more difficult to recover and can be difficult to prove. Also, if time has passed and the victim doesn’t notice the fraud in a timely manner, the odds of recovering the stolen money greatly decreases. In certain circumstances, the victim can be left financially devastated. Recovering lost funds could take years and in some cases, the money might never be recovered.

Effect #2 – Employment Woes
Identity fraud doesn’t only ruin credit scores affecting the ability for you to apply for credit cards, mortgages or get financing but also affect employment. Many employers not only drug test and check criminal history, but conduct a credit check as well. Those with bad credit scores have a much more difficult time finding a job.

Effect #3 – Mental Stress
It can take hundreds of hours to clear up an identity theft case. In many instances, victims find that issues that they thought were resolved may pop up again years later leading to ongoing damage control that can take an emotional toll. The stress and fear of financial insecurity can have a lasting impact on mental health.  Many identity theft scams have cost families their vehicles, home, and life savings and left them penniless. The fear of losing everything can be emotionally crippling, cause anxiety and in extreme cases has lead to ending marriages, hospitalization, and even suicide.

Avoid Becoming an Identity Theft Target
Fortunately, there are things you can do to protect yourself from becoming a victim and actions you can take if your identity is stolen.

ONE, credit monitoring services help discover suspicious activity concerning your financial business and insure against loss if your identity is stolen. You can also manually check your bank account, credit card statements and credit reports for fraudulent activity.

TWO, using dfndr security can protect your mobile device from phishing attacks and the Identity Theft Report feature can help you find out if your email addresses have been leaked. Also, the Identity Theft Monitoring feature can be used to watch ALL your logins and will even alert you if any of your accounts are compromised. Try em’ out! 

THREE, if you receive credit card statements or banking statements in your inbox, be sure to archive those properly in a secure cloud service. This helps prevent hackers from having access to documents that lists your private information.

FOUR, contact one or more of these agencies if your identity has been compromised:

www.consumer.gov/idtheft/ (Federal Trade Commission).

www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs17a.htm (Identity Theft: What to Do if It Happens to You).

www.idtheftcenter.org (For information on consumer focused items, click on “consumer resources” on the left side of the page).

https://www.stopfraud.gov/protect-identity.html (Department of Justice).