You may not worry much about potential fraud when you provide your cellphone number while shopping online, checking out at retail or grocery registers or adding it to online account profiles. It might even seem sensible to include your phone number in a “for sale” ad on Facebook, Craigslist or another online marketplace.
But did you know that when criminals obtain or gain control of your cellphone number, they could potentially steal personal information and passwords and perpetrate frauds that victimize others? They may also be able to download malware or spyware onto your phone and other mobile devices.
As if that’s not scary enough, no matter how careful you are about giving out your cellphone number, chances are that it’s already out there for plenty of eyes to see.
“We create so much data about ourselves because of our online usage, says Eva Velasquez, president and CEO of the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), a nonprofit organization that assists consumers and victims of identity theft crimes at no cost. “When you add social media into the mix, we create all kinds of information about ourselves that we’re making, for the most part, publicly available.”
Frequent data breaches among businesses, financial institutions and organizations can also land your phone number, along with other personal data used for identity theft, in the hands of criminals. And your cellphone number is probably already for sale at…
