LONDON, ONT -- Woodstock police have issued an alert regarding porting scams and are offering some tips on how to avoid them.
In a porting scam a fraudsters are taking advantage of a porting service, which is offered by phone companies to allow customers to keep their old number when transferring to a new account or service provider.
The fraudster will gather personal information about a victim and then pose as that victim to create a new account and have their number ported to the new account.
A fraudster only needs the phone number, account number, and password or serial number to be successful.
Victims are left without service to their phone, while fraudsters take advantage by gaining access to their social media accounts and credit cards.
Tips from Woodstock police to prevent Porting Fraud from happening to you:
- Do not publish personal information (ie. birthdate, phone number, answers to any security verification questions, etc.) on social media
- Call your service provider if you are unsure whether a message you received is a scam or not
- Do not click any links in messages requesting you update your account or passwords
- Keep your passwords long and strong – include capital and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols. Change your passwords regularly.
