How do celll phone accounts get hacked?

[Reba]

My elderly neighbors got a new cell phone two months ago. It's a very simple phone with very basic features. Their service account is with Verizon, very basic (no text, no internet).

They got their first bill for $6,000! They had made only two calls. The last call they made a few days ago didn't even go thru (it was when their car engine light came on, and they needed to phone for a ride).

They contacted Verizon and were told that apparently someone broke into their account, and was making calls to Central and South American countries.

Verizon cleared their charges and gave them a new phone and new number.

How do hackers access cell phone accounts that way? What can my neighbors (and all of us) do to protect our phones?

 

[Jiro]

How do hackers access cell phone accounts that way?

the most common method - phone cloning (ESN)

What can my neighbors (and all of us) do to protect our phones?

there's nothing you can do about it the only thing I can tell you is to routinely check your bills via internet every week for any unauthorized activity.

 

[Reba]

the most common method - phone cloning (ESN)

How do you think their phone was cloned?

 

[Jiro]

How do you think their phone was cloned?

typically - they cloned it by copying your SIM card (very very very very easy) but Verizon does not use SIM card so a few possibilities -

1. thief found your neighbor's personal information in trash and managed to find their cellphone's ESN
2. they hacked the seller's comp
3. they monitored for radio wave transmissions and snagged your neighbor's cellphone signal
4. the thief may have stolen your neighbor's phone at public place to clone it and then return it.... like restaurant (very unlikely since this process takes time)

It is extremely difficult to hack it but the thief was able to do this because your neighbor's cellphone is a very simple one. This means - it lacks sophisticated feature to protect itself from hacking. This is not an issue with smartphones but it does happen sometimes.

 

[Reba]

typically - they cloned it by copying your SIM card but Verizon does not use SIM card so a few possibilities -

1. thief found your neighbor's personal information in trash and managed to find their cellphone's ESN
2. they hacked the seller's comp
3. they monitored for radio wave transmissions and snagged your neighbor's cellphone signal
4. the thief may have stolen your neighbor's phone at public place to clone it and then return it.... like restaurant

It is extremely difficult to hack it but the thief was able to do this because your neighbor's cellphone is a very simple one. This means - it lacks sophisticated feature to protect itself from hacking.

Ugh, the thieves must move fast. My neighbors had their phone only one month when they got that huge bill. They made only a couple of short phone calls.

They don't go out much, so I don't know where it could have happened.

So sad how people take advantage of the elderly.

 

[Jiro]

Ugh, the thieves must move fast. My neighbors had their phone only one month when they got that huge bill. They made only a couple of short phone calls.

They don't go out much, so I don't know where it could have happened.

So sad how people take advantage of the elderly.

oh wow - hmm... where did they get the cellphone from? the real Verizon store or the shady-looking cellphone store? and yes.... the elderly is always the prime target

 

[Foxrac]

GSM based wireless carriers, att and tmobile use IMEI instead of ESN.

I'm sorry to hear about what happened to your neighbor and what's damn with hackers whoever take advantage of innocent people like elderly.

 

[diehardbiker]

Like I said many times, there is no such thing as fool proof security even with wireless. In these kind of technology, machines only understand two things. It is called On and Off, in other word zero and one, in other word as well 0 & 1. What needs to be done is be viligant, and expect the unexpected.

 

[AndyE9503]

Easiest way to clone a cellphone is to get a job working a phone kiosk at the mall. They are third party companies that have complete access to the phone companies records. Not all of them check to see who they are hiring. My brother is a manager for one and his company has caught a few people trying to do that. He has no idea how many get away with it.

 

[Reba]

Easiest way to clone a cellphone is to get a job working a phone kiosk at the mall. They are third party companies that have complete access to the phone companies records. Not all of them check to see who they are hiring. My brother is a manager for one and his company has caught a few people trying to do that. He has no idea how many get away with it.

Interesting.

In this case, they didn't go to a mall kiosk.

 

[AndyE9503]

Interesting.

In this case, they didn't go to a mall kiosk.

Doesn't matter. The Kiosk employees can access verizons account information for all verizon customers. It is the same for Sprint. I don't know about the other companies. The smart thieves would target an account that gets limited use cause it usually takes longer for the customer to catch the problem.

 

[Reba]

Doesn't matter. The Kiosk employees can access verizons account information for all verizon customers. It is the same for Sprint. I don't know about the other companies. The smart thieves would target an account that gets limited use cause it usually takes longer for the customer to catch the problem.

OIC

I knew Sprint was crooked. They took money from Hubby's bank account, and he never even had a Sprint phone!

Apparently Verizon has problems, too.

So far, with T-Mobile, so good. We've had them for several years, including when they were Suncom.

No guarantees, of course.

 

[AlleyCat]

A couple years back, I was in Florida on vacation. (I'm from Minnesota, so I was 1,000 miles away from home.) I was there about 10 days. My next phone bill had a $300 something charge for 4 or 5 days usage in Toronto, Canada. Those 4-5 days Toronto usage took place while I was in Florida. And even weirder, the 4 or 5 days were not consecutive. It was like 2-3 days in Florida, then 2-3 days in Toronto, then 1-2 days back in Florida, then 2-3 days back in Toronto, and then back to Florida, and then finally back to Minnesota -- you get the idea. I called tmobile (my provider) and they immediately cleared all those charges in Toronto. Some $300 worth. There were no charges for Florida since I was still on a nationwide (US) network. Still not sure how those charges for Toronto happened, but ... and it never happened again after.

Anyway, it is my impression my phone wasn't hacked, especially since it never happened again. But something caused those weird charges to appear.

 

[XBGMER]

Interesting.

In this case, they didn't go to a mall kiosk.

Reba, this is very interesting.. i am wondering if random did ask your elderly neighbors's phone he or she can use to call for few mins? just curious..

Hearing people come me and ask me if they can use my cellphone for call.. I declined their requires, and I angrily asked them " HAVE YOU A F**KING PROBLEM with me? because I loathe their require for my cellphone to call & acknowledge them try to steal or use phone collection like this.. I was like wonder why not hearing people pick phone from coin phone in public location instead of ask people's own cellphone.

 

[Foxrac]

Reba, this is very interesting.. i am wondering if random did ask your elderly neighbors's phone he or she can use to call for few mins? just curious..

Hearing people come me and ask me if they can use my cellphone for call.. I declined their requires, and I angrily asked them " HAVE YOU A F**KING PROBLEM with me? because I loathe their require for my cellphone to call & acknowledge them try to steal or use phone collection like this..

That's GOOD!

I wouldn't let anyone use my iPhone either.

 

[Reba]

Reba, this is very interesting.. i am wondering if random did ask your elderly neighbors's phone he or she can use to call for few mins? just curious...

I don't believe that happened in their case but I'll ask them next time I see them.