A cautionary tale to remember
Said scammer gained the trust of this particular T-Mobile customer by supplying a scary amount of accurate information related to his account, including the types of devices, number of lines, types of plans, billing amount, billing address, and email address associated with said account.
Actual T-Mobile reps will always call you from numbers you recognize and trust. | Image Credit — T-Mobile
That’s because wireless service providers explicitly instruct their users not to repeat one-time PINs sent by text to a voice caller unless the call was initiated by the customers themselves. That was obviously not the situation here, and as soon as the request for a credit card number came up, “only_1_” decided to exit the conversation and start a new one with a legit T-Mo representative. Fortunately, everything on this particular user’s account was in apple-pie order when the rep performed a quick verification, and a valuable lesson was learned.
Three simple principles to live by
- Don’t pick up the phone!
- Hang up as soon as you notice any red flags!
- NEVER share sensitive information on the phone!
Yes, it might seem hard to navigate the cybersecurity challenges of our era, and it’s certainly true that some hacking attempts are too sophisticated and complex to avoid for most regular mobile users.
But that’s not really the case here, as following any one of the three above recommendations can easily get you out of trouble in many such situations. Is someone calling you from a number you don’t recognize? They’re almost definitely not a carrier representative, so you should reject the call and block the number.
No, T-Mobile doesn’t have any deal in place for users angry with its recent price hikes. | Image Credit — PhoneArena
If you do answer the call out of curiosity, boredom, or any other reason and you’re asked for passwords, PINs, social security numbers, or financial information of any sort, just laugh and hang up! If you have any doubts, you can call the operator yourself and make sure you’re indeed not eligible for some irresistible, out-of-the-blue promotion meant to make up for said operator’s rising greed.
While we’re on that subject, probably the best advice offered by many Redditors experienced with these types of scam attempts is to not be desperate for deals. If it sounds too good to be true, it’s sadly probably not true, and you should walk away before you lose a ton of money.
