What is phone porting, and why are scammers doing it?
Everyone knows safeguarding Social Security numbers, bank account numbers, PINs, credit cards and passwords is key to shutting out identity thieves and hackers.
But what about the 10-digit number you use to stay in touch?
News 8 On Your Side found telephone numbers are increasingly used to validate subscribers' identities for account access, and scammers are trying to take over phone accounts.
One day, Emory and Susan Horn's phone worked.
"We've had that phone number over 40 years," Emory Horn said.
The next day, it was gone.
"I went to use the telephone, and the telephone was dead," he said.
For the Horns, their house phone is a lifeline. They live deep in a valley in rural Franklin County and have no cell signal at their home.
They have their landline phone through Brightspeed.
After their line went dead, they took their cell phones and drove to find a signal.
They called Brightspeed to ask why their house phone was no longer working.
"And she said, 'Let me check on this.' And she came back and told us Straight Talk stole our phone number. And I said, 'They're a cell phone company. How can a cell phone company steal a phone number from a landline company?'" Horn said.
Phone porting
The act of moving a phone number from one carrier to another is called phone porting.
While this case involved moving a landline, it usually involves moving a number from one wireless carrier to another.
Scammers are trying to do this more often because they realize how much personal information we keep on our phones.
Up until recently, there was very little phone companies could do to stop it.
With just a little bit of a customer's information, a bad guy can easily switch someone's number.
Last fall, the Federal Communications Commission adopted new rules to make it more difficult to port someone's number.
But how Emory and Susan Horn's landline number was ported to a cell phone company remains a mystery.
News 8 On Your Side contacted Brightspeed, which told us the Horns "appear to be the victims of a third party who convinced another carrier to port their number."
That carrier was Straight Talk Wireless. Straight Talk has repeatedly told 8 On Your Side it would only communicate with the consumers and offered no information on how the Horns' number was ported.
Brightspeed said it worked with the wireless carrier to retrieve the Horns' phone number, and their landline has been reconnected.
Protect yourself
Again, phone porting usually involves wireless numbers.
Think about all the personal information you may have on a smartphone. Bank accounts, digital wallets and contact information are things the scammer is after when they try to port your number.
Protect your phone and your number by setting up a PIN or a password to get into telephone accounts.
Set up notifications for your important accounts, so if someone tries to make changes you are notified immediately.
Don't respond to anyone asking you to send a code through a text message.
