Boy, did I get hacked. They used my phone

[leftyladyfrommo]

Number and got my provider and stole my AT&T account. All my AT&T service was completely gone. Fortunately I tried to call out right after it happened so I went directly to AT&T. they had to completely close my AT&T ACCT and give me a new number.

Somehow they created a portal and all my texts and calls were going to their number.

My phone number is tied to everything. What a mess.

[ratchiweenie]

1. Sorry. Glad you got on it right away but what a headache!!!

[Easterncedar]

2. What a nightmare!

I hope the damage is limited. You must be so stressed out. Hang on!

[leftyladyfrommo]

3. I haven't found any damage so far but

my contacts are getting fake friend requests.

AT&T could see the fraudulent activity in real time.

[Easterncedar]

5. Whew!

The FBI a few months ago, before the coup, was recommending we secure our texts, as communications between different devices, say apple to android, were not protected as apple to apple and android to android are. I proposed it for my group texts, but it was generally viewed as being not worth the effort.

[hlthe2b]

6. You are right to do so. I have screened those with whom I regularly text to make sure those who were on Android

(I'm on iPhone) downloaded WhatsApp so that our texts are encrypted. I had some resistance from a few who don't understand that the risk was not coming from what you posted in texts (or unencrypted phone calls) but from the ability to gain access to your phone.

Some of my relatives are not very tech-savvy, but I think I've managed to get them to do so.

I can only think that with Trump's hackers given 100% access, we are facing a nightmare scenario.

[leftyladyfrommo]

11. This was very scary for me. I thought I

had lost everything on my phone. I don't know what AT&T did, but everything is still there with my new number. My phone itself wasn't affected. It was my AT&T acct that was transferred to another number and 2 more lines were added.

[leftyladyfrommo]

15. AT&T warned not to change messaging

Systems. And don't download anything that has the word "home" attached. And don't download any of the cleaner apps.
Those are especially bad for predator portals.

[Tetrachloride]

7. I use WhatsApp

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

39. Me too, but my iPhone "friends" & family refuse

to cooperate.

[The Madcap]

4. Death penalty for hackers

Is something I could support. Do you hear that, Leon?

[hlthe2b]

8. Was this associated with the prior AT&T hack? What was AT&T able to tell you?

I am glad they were on top of this, but I share your experience to some degree--albeit from a different route into my bank accounts. It was horrific and while I did work with the FBI and my credit union stood behind me, I lost a few thousand$$ from other accounts that I will likely never recover. I'm not wealthy. it hurts.

[leftyladyfrommo]

12. Thank goodness none of my accts

were on my phone.

[leftyladyfrommo]

16. AT&T was suspiciously quiet about this.

They just immediately closed out my acct and set up a whole new one, apologized a few times, and had me file a fraud report. They said not to worry that they would cover any activity from then on.

[Emile]

9. Wow, that really sucks. I hate the at&t website.

[NNadir]

10. The exact same thing happened to me at Verizon on Thursday. Apparently it was a rogue Verizon Retailer.

The suspects called me to say people were ordering things on my account, and when I wouldn't pay them, they disconnected all of my phones.

I had to go to the a corporate Verizon facility to get the phones reconnected.

[leftyladyfrommo]

13. That's interesting. I wondered how widespread

this was.

[NNadir]

22. When I went to the Verizon store, there were other people there with the same complaint.

[leftyladyfrommo]

26. Oh. Boy.

What these guys did was set me up a month ago. They turned off my email and said I needed to sign up for more storage.
And I did. It was just $.49, ,a month.
And that's when it all started.

I really want to go back to 1967 when I wasn't constantly worried about all this technical shit.

[pengillian101]

30. I totally agree! n/t

[mainer]

14. How did this happen?

Please advise how to avoid it!

[leftyladyfrommo]

17. The hackers used my phone number to

find my carrier. Then they hacked into my AT&T account and transferred my service to another number.

[Emile]

19. Wow, the at&t website sucks.

[leftyladyfrommo]

20. If you get an SOS message from your

Service carrier to call them. That's not a scam. Call them immediately.

[cynical_idealist]

36. first, check the number provided is that carriers phone number

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

18. Here's an idea:

Only use your cell phone for voice or text messages. DON'T have a whole lot of apps on the phone. Don't do banking, paying bills, anything like that on your phone. Do stuff like that on an actual computer. Don't post on social media using your phone.

In short, don't make it so freaking easy for someone to take every single piece of information you have in one vulnerable place.

[leftyladyfrommo]

21. I don't have a computer. But I also don't do

any banking on my phone.

[hlthe2b]

23. While I agree...

Don't think they can't get into your accounts/computer without doing anything "stupid" to let them in. FBI is still working on an incident that I haven't spoken much about (at their request) but I reference upstream. I'm sure reading this you naturally assume I'm one who opened a link on an email or text or failed to keep the best internet security updated on my computer (full $350 worth of Norton plus Malwarebytes here) or fell for some scam phone call/text. None would be true.

So, while I agree with the point you made and likewise the recommendation from the prior FBI alert to use only encrypted phone and text between IOS and Android phones--e.g., WhatsApp... please don't think all of those measures are 100%. They are not. I'm no Luddite but even the most tech-advanced person is at risk--especially given what Trump and his hacker cretins are getting access to.

[leftyladyfrommo]

27. That makes me feel better. They were getting

all my emails but those would put them all to sleep.

[Rebl2]

33. I never set

up email on my phone or banking for that matter. I rarely even use my cell phone. Yes I still have a land line of sorts. It’s through my cable company.

[Martin68]

24. Wow! That's terrible.

[sanduca]

25. Didn't you have any protection?

I recommend Bitdefender in all your gadgets. One account protects 5 devices...I believe you can even share the account with your kids if you have less than 5 devices. You send them an invite.
They are great, make sure you activate all their features.
If they hacked your financial info, Aura is great.

[twodogsbarking]

28. Seems like they could work harder to avoid these things.

[CrispyQ]

29. Password changing time!! What a PITA!! (pain in the ass)

I don't have any financial apps on my phone but I do have some retail apps. They could stock up on groceries real good! Glad you caught it early.

DUer Usonian posted this link to an article, The Protesters' Guide to Smartphone Security. There's are a lot of good advice in here & the section on burner phones is really interesting.

https://www.privacyguides.org/articles/2025/01/23/activists-guide-securing-your-smartphone/

[Liberal In Texas]

31. Sorry to hear about you having to go through this. I'm so paranoid I don't put apps for

my banking (even though they keep putting out slick notices telling us how continent it is) or any credit card information. I do not use my phone to pay for anything.

And in general, passwords should only be used for one thing, never repeat passwords for more than one application. And make them long. Use KeePass on your home computer to manage passwords. It's free.
https://keepass.info/

[AllyCat]

32. So sorry this happened to you. I'm trying to understand how to prevent this

further.

I got a message from Apple that I had a bunch of charges. Turned out, my kid ordered a bunch of stuff on the “family sharing” feature. Was able to dispute and get the money back but noticed I had 3 different “accounts” of $500 limit each linked to my debit card. Deleted them all. There was no way to change the limit or tell how they got there. Now I pay for the regular subscriptions I have through Apple Pay and just put the money there to cover them each month.

[leftyladyfrommo]

35. It's everywhere. Makes me wish I lived

off grid in a cute tiny house.

I am getting paranoid.

[634-5789]

34. Here's a little tip for future protection:

FREEZE all your Credit bureau accounts! No need to pay for some service to do this, just go here and get started. I've done this since the 80's and have had NO interruptions or thefts. https://www.usa.gov/credit-freeze

[Liberal In Texas]

37. This is good advice. We keep or credit frozen. If some thing comes up where we need to have our credit checked

we ask who they're using and temporarily unfreeze that bureau. Maybe for a week or something, then freeze it again.

[hlthe2b]

38. Yes. I heartily agree (but expect to be bombarded with emails-- at least from Experien-- afterward)

I don't block them or do anything about them because I need to know if there is an issue...

Oh, and remember when the program person in your grocery store on the floor signing up regular customers (or trying to) to their new bank-sponsored loyalty-discounted/free deliveries, plus credit card the bank won't be able to access your credit without going through the efforts required to unblock for them as for anyone else. I'd forgotten that and because I have trusted US Bank which sponsors the current program at Kroger-King Soopers, I did fill out the app for them, but decided ultimately not to respond to their request that I "unlock" temporarily for them to do the credit check. It just isn't worth it to me.