Recently my wife, without any identification, went to Tmobile and was able to have my account automatically canceled and added to a new joint family account.
She went with my knowledge, but TMobile never called to confirm.
After which my phone no longer had service, and I had to install a new sim card prior.
While she did this with my knowledge, I no longer have access to make changes to the account, until she adds me to the list of authorized people, and I lost all my voice mail.
It's very disturbing that she could do this, without any sort of checks and authorization.
Also, FWIW, my wife and I do not share a last name, and she did not provide anything other than my phone number to TMobile. She was a new Tmobile customer, and I was an existing customer, albeit on a very cheap pre-paid plan.
Similar thing i experienced with Rogers Wireless in Canada recently.
wife and I had separate accounts. i logged in with her account to the rogers account site and added my phone number to her account with a few basic details that are on every statement sent in the mail....
I had a joint account with my wife as a owner.
then my work had a corp plan with rogers, so wanted to switch to that, but since I am the employee, i had to be the account owner.
this isnt actually so simple.
they had to create a net new account with me as owner.
and re-assign the phone numbers to the new account.
when i called in to their account support line, they asked for my 4 digit PIN.
I said i have no idea what it is, the guy in the store just punched some numbers in when he setup the account and never told me.
they were okay with that and proceeded to ask me some details that are on my mailed statements....
Then they said they needed the account holders permission.
--i was at work, my wife was out of town, i didnt feel like bothering her.
i said "hold on one minute, just let me get her".
i put the phone on mute for 30 seconds.
unmuted and changed my voice slightly "Hello? Yes i am fine with my husband taking ownership and transfering the numbers"
"she" then passed the phone back to me and the rep proceeded with the transfer.
I used to work in telco (in another country) and it's a difficult line to tread. 95% of customers have no idea what their 4 digit PIN was so you have to identify them other ways, and not being able to access their account is the kind of thing that pisses even legitimate customers off (which is why it's so easy to take advantage of).
Our company's policy was "if they don't know the PIN you have to connect them to the call centre and have them verify for you" but customers are rarely impressed to be handed a phone to the overseas call centre.
My mum had something similar happen with Verizon albeit as an act of fraud against her account. Her phone was working one day then mysteriously stopped working the next. She didn't think much of it, but as a matter of happenstance had picked up her bill a couple of days later to find that someone had managed to attach a new phone to her account (under a new contract no less!). According to the fraud rep, the switch took place in a Target nearby and was likely done without any identification other than the phone number. Eerily similar.
Yeah, a couple of years back, I went to a t-mobile store (I think it was on Broadway and Park Pl) to get a new SIM card; I'd lost it in Europe when I was on holiday. They gave me a new SIM card and let me pay cash without even checking my ID…
Out of curiosity, if this is done with the consent of the person whose account you're hacking (as in this example), is it illegal (considering that the corporation is also a party here)? More generally, in what circumstances can you lie on the phone about your identity without committing a crime?
I recently had to regain account access to an employee's company provided phone on T-mobile after misplacing the password and PIN. If you know the phone number and can guess one of the numbers they recently called, you're in.
Was there a documented and confirmed link through your banking details, like did she have the credit card that you paid for the sim with, or was she named on a joint bank account associated with your phone account?
I don't doubt that a telecom would do such a thing as you describe but have some hope that you're just not seeing the back end confirmation?
Is anyone aware of repots on the comparative level of security of the various cell providers? I'd be interested to know how providers in various tiers of scale like US Cellular compare to TMobile and Sprint compare to Verizon and AT&T.
She went with my knowledge, but TMobile never called to confirm.
After which my phone no longer had service, and I had to install a new sim card prior.
While she did this with my knowledge, I no longer have access to make changes to the account, until she adds me to the list of authorized people, and I lost all my voice mail.
It's very disturbing that she could do this, without any sort of checks and authorization.
Also, FWIW, my wife and I do not share a last name, and she did not provide anything other than my phone number to TMobile. She was a new Tmobile customer, and I was an existing customer, albeit on a very cheap pre-paid plan.