Utah County woman tells how to avoid ‘port-out’ phone scam

UTAH COUNTY — A nationwide scam targeting customers of T-Mobile has arrived to Utah. A customer in American Fork said someone “ported” her number, and within minutes, was able to gain control of her bank account and credit card. 

“One minute my phone was working and then the next minute it wasn’t,” said Cristina, who asked that her last name not be used. 

Cristina said that within a few minutes of her phone not working on Tuesday afternoon, the scammers were using her number they had ported to a new carrier to attempt to access to her bank and credit card.  

“They were able to get online on my accounts, and say I had forgotten my username and passwords and got a code sent to my cell phone,” said Cristina. “So I think it is scary because all of our accounts are tied to our cell phone numbers.”

Fortunately, Cristina’s bank sent an email to confirm the money transfer. She called her credit card company to learn a replacement card had been ordered and was about to be mailed overnight to an address in Miami.

“We were able to stop any of our own money being taken from us, but it was really alarming that they were able to transfer my phone number to another carrier,” said Cristina.

Within 24 hours, Cristina was able to get her phone working again and now has added a six-digit PIN number to her account to keep someone else from porting her number. 

For additional information about how to protect against “port-out scams”, click here.

T-Mobile warns customers about phone-porting scam