I work for one of the cell companies (not disclosing who) and it is crazy the amount of attempted port out fraud and sim swap fraud that I see attempted. Most folks don't realize just how prevalent porting fraud and sim swap fraud are, and it almost always starts with one compromised email and password. Thank you for putting this video out there, it's definitely needed!
@antjon1 Looking for some clarification. Who at the Cell phone Company you work for, has the ability to bypass this feature and port a cell phone number? If someone truly looses their cell phone, and has this feature turned on, what is the process to get your phone number ported to a new phone please.
@@HappyJ for the most part you can't override that. Now with that being said, for most companies, number lock is in the app, and that's the only place it can be turned on/off from. So, that negates a lost phone as an excuse because you don't have to have the phone to login to the online acct. It is carrier specific however. Some will require an in person visit to override, some have no way to override, or will require very enhanced verification to override. It isnt something your average fraudster would be able to slip through.
The feed-in is the reason why this fraud is possible. People have no idea of how and why this happens, even tech-savvy ones. We as ThioJoe's audience can skip to 7:45, but not the people to whom we will send the video link.
What a surprise US companies putting profit before customer service then being forced to do the right thing by FCC but then not advertising the feature.
I got a text about it, it's right there when I log into the account. Another good solution would be having to enter your account PIN after a SIM swap on the phone once, just like when you activate a new credit/debit card which works really well for cards.
What a surprise, some idiot thinks only U.S. companies are in business for profits. I suppose every other company around the globe is ONLY doing it for charity?
Thank you for this. i actually asked t-mobile customer service to do this and agent had no idea what i was talking about. i searched through web app and couldn't find anything but now i know what i'm looking cor and will do it forthwith. This was October 2024. Appreciate you!
Thank you for this GREAT video!!!! I use ATT and I accidentally discovered this a few weeks ago while searching for solutions to prevent sim swapping. I was about give ATT a huge nice review but now I find out thanks to you and this video that the FCC required them o do it!! Of course they wouldn't have done it if not required!!!!
Well, it may not be in the title, but he did say in the intro he was talking about new FCC rules, which only exist in the US. I do get your point about it not being in the title, but at least you only had to watch the intro, not the whole video, to see this was only for the US.
@@wildbill4496 That's more than 30 seconds into the video, until that point it's just "they're legally required", which could make it seem like it's a common law in many countries.
@@AbdullahMRiadmaybe he doesn't realize he has an international audience. Not everyone in the US is xenophobic or specifically trying to screw you. If an English UA-cam personality I watch were to upload something like this only applicable to England, I wouldn't be upset. I'm the American watching the English channel.
Thanks for your informative video! Don't recall receiving any notification from my provider. All the provider bashing aside, this is simply a No Brainier! I had this new feature enabled before the video was even finished. IMO, any inconvenience of having to disable it to manage your account pales in comparison to the horrors thousands of people have experienced with SIM swapping and Port Out attacks.
In my country, eSIMs are currently non-transferable. You must show up in-person with the original ID (which is an encrypted smart card, locked by our thumbprint) for a new eSIM for a different device. If we purchase new SIM cards online, we need to show our ID to the delivery guy for verification too. It's very strict and every phone number is traceable to a person by the government. As of now, the gov hasn't abused this, only for criminal charges where this is useful.
This video popped up on my feed. Thank you for showing everyone how to protect themselves from hackers. It took me less than a minute to enable both of those protective features on my Verizon app.
Thanks very much. I had no idea this could be done. Despite the videos out there to that discuss ways to prevent this sort of fraud, no one else disclosed the lock-up capability. Great work!
If you break your phone you have to do a SIM swap. Now those silly eSIM just made this problem bigger, before you could simply swap the physical sim card into a new phone, but eSIM's you have to swap online.
How do you know for sure, "rarely switch carriers or change numbers?" You know that some users want to test different carriers, different devices, AND also keep the same mobile number?
Depends... if a carrier no longer suits my needs, it's nice to dump their SIM in a garbage can after giving it a snip. In that case, it's one more obstacle to port my stuff out.
Of course the big companies objected to protection of their customers. ALL they care about is getting the money! As long as YOUR payment clears THEY DID THEIR JOB. That is utter nonsense however it is also how companies work.
Thank you so much for this info. I was able to lock down my phone numbers quickly. I've been wanting this for a long time, and I wasn't aware that the carriers had added this feature. Kudos to Joe for informing us, you got a new subscriber!
Thank you for sharing invaluable information like this! I just found the “line lock“ feature practically hidden in the settings of my cell phone carrier app, and turned it on, and then sent this video to my entire family group chat!
I think it is great that they are doing this. If you do lose service even after this rule takes effect just immediately go to one of your phone carrier's stores and check with them that your phone number was not stolen. Don't stop anywhere on the way unless your vehicle is about to run out of fuel. Just get there immediately. Also go to your bank and tell them to watch for suspicious transactions and maybe even to freeze your accounts. You can even get new ones once your number is back to normal just in case someone is trying to take money from your existing account. Whatever you do you must work quickly.
Wow, thanks I have been wanting to do this with AT&T for a very long time. It happened to my son thankfully he didn’t have a lot going on there and it was easy to fix. But I am definitely glad to see your video on this. I have definitely enabled the feature already. Since you explained, it was only on the phone app and ended up being pretty easy to find and for AT&T. Thanks again.
I was just able to active both Number and Sim lock via the T-Mobile app in my phone. Thank you! (T-Mobile customer service is okay most of the time but not always the smartest)
My cell phone company is Verizon, and I've had a pin number set up with them for years, which prevents us from happening. The only way my sim can be swapped is if someone has this pin number, and I'm the only one that has it. So if your phone does not have this feature, just call your carrier and set up a pin number with them.
In Australia, you can only do SIM swap in person. Although that rule to make service providers to send a notification and asking for confirmation prior to SIM swapping is also a good idea.
I did a port lock on my Visible carrier last year. Because of your view video, I rechecked it and found that it was not locked anymore. Visible has an option for line lock, which I now toggled on.
You rock. I haven’t gotten into the subject of your post here because when I went into the app I found that AT&T has been charging me for a few things that I didn’t order…for many months. So gross. All reversed but thank you!!
This is sort of enabled by default here. You can't swap sims or change carriers without personally being there with your id. Also, when you change sims/operators, banks disable your 2FA it's kind of tied to your sim not just your phone number. You have to personally go to each bank or their ATM with a valid card and remove the sim lock / accept the sim change. Until then you can't login to mobile apps, or do online shopping with your credit cards.
Hey Thio... Big fan of the channel for a long time. Just had this video come up on my notifications. Logged in immediately and enabled both features. You are the "boss man". I feel so much more comfortable now. Thanks for keeping us safe.
Definitely enable this protection, but you might want to add an annual reminder that it’s on so you remember to turn it off when you get a new phone. I had forgotten that I had added this protection, and a couple months ago it caused a delay while I “troubleshoot” why I couldn’t switch my esim to a new phone 😅
I’m definitely going to enable this feature. I just learned of SIM swaps and was wondering what T-Mobile was doing about it. Thanks for this information!
Thank you! I just watched this and enabled it right away on the ATT app. I only have the PIN that serves the same purpose, but the additional layer of protection should help. Appreciate your knowledge
Back in 2000-ish, it was well known that telephone companies themselves would cold call the receptionist of businesses, and then tell them they were from "their telephone company". They were calling to verify everything was OK, and that because of company policies they needed to customer to state they were using [insert the actual company name the caller was working for]. Receptionists knowing who the business was using for their telephone company wasn't usual, so easy target. That's ALL it took for that company to then switch a business wholesale to the new telephone company. And it was recorded. Pretty sure Congress put a stop to that eventually. I ran into it when the receptionist simply forwarded a phone call to me (IT guy). The caller tried that with me. I instead pretended to be an old IT guy hard of hearing. Spent a good ten minutes of their time before they simply cut out in frustration. Regardless, I had a training meeting as soon as I could with everyone no matter who they were about it. Never talk to the telephone company unless YOU call them yourself.
Thank you for this video. I turned on those features. Not sure why the cell companies don't make customers aware of this. It would be a win win situation for both.
I read that banks in Africa implemented a check before each transaction and checked with the carrier if the SIM was recently switched, and blocked the account for some days if it was.
In France, scammers call the phone holder, not a customer representative, to have them read out the 2FA code. If this technique would happen here, scammers would just trick the customer into removing the option, then tell them they will call back after a series of internal tests (because I read the protection goes off after 15 minutes). It won't stop the fraud, yet the targeted people will change.
Thank you for the video. I just enabled all the security settings on my phones. I didn’t know you can do something like that. It was something I was worried about. But not any longer.
Thanks so much for making this video. I had no idea that this oprion was available at AT&T. I was a victim of a SIM swap scam in 2022 and it was a nightmare. I enabled the account lock just now!
Lots of good info. I knew about the phone number locking with my carrier, in fact I remember when I used the accoutn app months ago, it specifically popped up something offering to turn that on. However, I was not aware they also no offered a SIM locking option.
Thanks for those info. It's funny that they say they are all about our security, yet never tell you that this is something you should be aware of. Absolutely enabled it. Might even drop our wireless provider... sick of these big corporations who leach off of customers. I know... stop yelling lol
For Verizon if you have the app click on your device select manage device scroll down should show up as Number Lock seems some phones are enabled automatically but Check to be sure
It's best to have a separate phone number for 2FA that you NEVER give out to anyone for contacting you normally, just to banks etc. that require a phone for 2FA.
Visible (by Verizon) calls it Line Lock. It's available on their website or app under Account/Privacy & Security/Account Security/Manage Number Security/Line Lock. It just takes a moment.
It's interesting that the USA is only just getting around to doing this. In Canada, we've had text requests for ports and SIM swaps for at least a few years now. We don't have SIM locking though, but some companies offer port protection, which blocks ports of numbers even if the text request is replied to. Surprising that they didn't look to how Canada was doing it to see that it's only been successful for helping to curb SIM theft and number theft.
Another far more dangerous attack is the S7 man in the middle attack. Everyone should disable roaming on the account if they don't travel and enable only when travelling.
Never had trouble, but thanks for this video. I try to be saavy about security and such and I just logged into my provider while watching this and sure enough, SIM out protection wasn't turned on.
What if my phone got bricked with that "security" feature, would I still be able to change it? I thought that the phone service providers would be able to differentiate in a physical later of their transmitter an authenticate caller from the impersonator but it seems they've opened a loophole for spammers to call you using your phone number.
FYI mint mobile has this in their app under settings. Default is to have it enabled. If you don't want the number lock you need to change that but imho I'm glad to have it.
My phone service provider added this some months ago, even though I wouldn't be a target, its something so simple and i'll forget about it but it'd protect me
Yes, tracfone has it, and they never even let me know, called linelock, I have it now. Long awaited for this security, all tho i'm low income, I wouldn't want hassles of having no phone
Thank you for the video. I had number lock on but not SIM Protection. NOTE: The MyVerizon app allows you to set number lock but PIN Protection apears to be abailable only from the web
I work for one of the cell companies (not disclosing who) and it is crazy the amount of attempted port out fraud and sim swap fraud that I see attempted. Most folks don't realize just how prevalent porting fraud and sim swap fraud are, and it almost always starts with one compromised email and password. Thank you for putting this video out there, it's definitely needed!
BS...they should required the person to go to the local store. Shouldn't be that easy to port number.
Same. Didn't even know this feature exists until I saw this video. Very useful indeed
@antjon1 Looking for some clarification. Who at the Cell phone Company you work for, has the ability to bypass this feature and port a cell phone number? If someone truly looses their cell phone, and has this feature turned on, what is the process to get your phone number ported to a new phone please.
@@HappyJ for the most part you can't override that. Now with that being said, for most companies, number lock is in the app, and that's the only place it can be turned on/off from. So, that negates a lost phone as an excuse because you don't have to have the phone to login to the online acct. It is carrier specific however. Some will require an in person visit to override, some have no way to override, or will require very enhanced verification to override. It isnt something your average fraudster would be able to slip through.
Where do you find it to enable it?
7:45 is where you find how to enable the feature; there’s a really long introduction to this video.
Thanks! I thought I'd have to go through the entire video again because at the end I didn't know if he said how to enable these.
@ The feed-in is interesting. It doesn’t feel like 7+ minutes.
There are labeled chapters too.
@@kevbu4 Thanks!!
The feed-in is the reason why this fraud is possible. People have no idea of how and why this happens, even tech-savvy ones. We as ThioJoe's audience can skip to 7:45, but not the people to whom we will send the video link.
What a surprise US companies putting profit before customer service then being forced to do the right thing by FCC but then not advertising the feature.
I got a text about it, it's right there when I log into the account. Another good solution would be having to enter your account PIN after a SIM swap on the phone once, just like when you activate a new credit/debit card which works really well for cards.
at&t actually texted me about it a while ago.
Keep voting Republican … More corporate greed to come
What a surprise, some idiot thinks only U.S. companies are in business for profits. I suppose every other company around the globe is ONLY doing it for charity?
@@Detonator007 - The past 4 years didn't do a great job either, just look at all the high profile hacks that happened.
I didn't know this feature was required until now. Honestly, kudos to the FCC for enforcing this-I just turned it on!
This is one of the most useful public service announcements you've ever done. Excellent work Joe.
Only if you're American - the FCC has no jurisdiction outside the US, so this has no impact on me, for example.
Nice to see you pop up Jim, not often do I see a wizard in the wild.
Thank you for this. i actually asked t-mobile customer service to do this and agent had no idea what i was talking about. i searched through web app and couldn't find anything but now i know what i'm looking cor and will do it forthwith. This was October 2024. Appreciate you!
Yep....... and NOW in Dec. 2024... TMobile C S is in the DARK! STILL....
Thank you for this GREAT video!!!! I use ATT and I accidentally discovered this a few weeks ago while searching for solutions to prevent sim swapping. I was about give ATT a huge nice review but now I find out thanks to you and this video that the FCC required them o do it!! Of course they wouldn't have done it if not required!!!!
not available outside the US, please put that in your title
I hate it when people treat US as the only country in the world
Well, it may not be in the title, but he did say in the intro he was talking about new FCC rules, which only exist in the US. I do get your point about it not being in the title, but at least you only had to watch the intro, not the whole video, to see this was only for the US.
@@wildbill4496 That's more than 30 seconds into the video, until that point it's just "they're legally required", which could make it seem like it's a common law in many countries.
@@AbdullahMRiadmaybe he doesn't realize he has an international audience. Not everyone in the US is xenophobic or specifically trying to screw you. If an English UA-cam personality I watch were to upload something like this only applicable to England, I wouldn't be upset. I'm the American watching the English channel.
Hopefully it's coming for the rest of us
Thank you -this is the first time I’ve heard of this feature. My cell carrier never bothered to inform me.
Thanks for your informative video! Don't recall receiving any notification from my provider. All the provider bashing aside, this is simply a No Brainier! I had this new feature enabled before the video was even finished. IMO, any inconvenience of having to disable it to manage your account pales in comparison to the horrors thousands of people have experienced with SIM swapping and Port Out attacks.
In my country, eSIMs are currently non-transferable. You must show up in-person with the original ID (which is an encrypted smart card, locked by our thumbprint) for a new eSIM for a different device. If we purchase new SIM cards online, we need to show our ID to the delivery guy for verification too. It's very strict and every phone number is traceable to a person by the government. As of now, the gov hasn't abused this, only for criminal charges where this is useful.
Your government has most certainly abused it.
had our phone number stolen. 500 contacts. Had to call them all with a new number. I've had that number 25 years. Broke my heart.
What other stupid things do you have emotional attachments to?
@@HerbieBancockWell that was rude. Evil much?
Thanks! Great information.
@@ThioJoe wait how do you do that
@@ThioJoe WTH
@@ThioJoe первые голосовые сообщения на ютуб
@@ThioJoecould you please make a tutorial, or explain how you did it. even if its not available to the public.
Good to see that there are free services to protect your cellphone number.
This video popped up on my feed. Thank you for showing everyone how to protect themselves from hackers. It took me less than a minute to enable both of those protective features on my Verizon app.
Thanks very much. I had no idea this could be done. Despite the videos out there to that discuss ways to prevent this sort of fraud, no one else disclosed the lock-up capability. Great work!
People rarely switch phone carriers or change phone numbers, so this a good idea to enable this to block it from hapenning
If you break your phone you have to do a SIM swap. Now those silly eSIM just made this problem bigger, before you could simply swap the physical sim card into a new phone, but eSIM's you have to swap online.
How do you know for sure, "rarely switch carriers or change numbers?" You know that some users want to test different carriers, different devices, AND also keep the same mobile number?
Depends... if a carrier no longer suits my needs, it's nice to dump their SIM in a garbage can after giving it a snip. In that case, it's one more obstacle to port my stuff out.
In France, some people often switch phone carriers because of the low prices offered to newcomers.
Not if you are being hacked
Of course the big companies objected to protection of their customers. ALL they care about is getting the money! As long as YOUR payment clears THEY DID THEIR JOB. That is utter nonsense however it is also how companies work.
And this surprises you how?
Where did they say they were surprised? It’s still infuriating even if you expect it
It's crazy how businesses try to make lots of money, like it's the only reason they exist.
@@2025_Is_Going_To_Be_Great It is... the ONLY reason why... they exist.
Thank you so much for this info. I was able to lock down my phone numbers quickly. I've been wanting this for a long time, and I wasn't aware that the carriers had added this feature. Kudos to Joe for informing us, you got a new subscriber!
Thank you for sharing invaluable information like this! I just found the “line lock“ feature practically hidden in the settings of my cell phone carrier app, and turned it on, and then sent this video to my entire family group chat!
I think it is great that they are doing this. If you do lose service even after this rule takes effect just immediately go to one of your phone carrier's stores and check with them that your phone number was not stolen. Don't stop anywhere on the way unless your vehicle is about to run out of fuel. Just get there immediately. Also go to your bank and tell them to watch for suspicious transactions and maybe even to freeze your accounts. You can even get new ones once your number is back to normal just in case someone is trying to take money from your existing account. Whatever you do you must work quickly.
I will NEVER have on-line banking on my cell phone!
@@randysmith9715. That is if you don’t purchase / shop online! Otherwise your banking info is traceable! Scammers are everywhere!
So glad you posted this video! Otherwise, I never would have known because T-Mobile never mentioned it.
I had THREE sim swaps done within a year in 2023 & 2024. They “think” they’ve fixed the problem now… Thanks for making this video!
Wow, thanks I have been wanting to do this with AT&T for a very long time. It happened to my son thankfully he didn’t have a lot going on there and it was easy to fix. But I am definitely glad to see your video on this. I have definitely enabled the feature already. Since you explained, it was only on the phone app and ended up being pretty easy to find and for AT&T. Thanks again.
Thanks, Joe! Logged into my AT&T account and enabled this setting!
How did you do it on AT&T? I can’t find it. Thanks
How? I can’t find it either. What section is it in?
Same
I was just able to active both Number and Sim lock via the T-Mobile app in my phone. Thank you!
(T-Mobile customer service is okay most of the time but not always the smartest)
Thank you 100%. Just went in and enabled this on my account. These scams are getting ridiculous.
My cell phone company is Verizon, and I've had a pin number set up with them for years, which prevents us from happening. The only way my sim can be swapped is if someone has this pin number, and I'm the only one that has it. So if your phone does not have this feature, just call your carrier and set up a pin number with them.
Do you have to call them to set it up or can you set it up through the my Verizon app?
You can still enable SIM protection in Verizon app in settings
Thank you for this information, Joe. I enabled my this protection on all of my phones after I viewed your video. Great work!
Thank you very much for this! This was one of my most feared security risks. Too bad the law did not appear to require carriers to inform customers!
My first thanks to you after years of getting such important ideas and tips from you. Belated but no less felt. Thanks, Rob
In Australia, you can only do SIM swap in person. Although that rule to make service providers to send a notification and asking for confirmation prior to SIM swapping is also a good idea.
I did a port lock on my Visible carrier last year. Because of your view video, I rechecked it and found that it was not locked anymore. Visible has an option for line lock, which I now toggled on.
I'm Canadian, and we've had these things forever! Crazy that this wasn't the case in the US.
Wow, I cant thank you enough for pointing out this feature. I have been searching for a way to secure my sim card. This is an easy solution.
Thank you. Finally a security feature that a youtuber made simple to understand, and simple for me to find and change!
Fell asleep before you got to the point.
Exactly
00:31 Nice, another thing keeping me up at night
You rock.
I haven’t gotten into the subject of your post here because when I went into the app I found that AT&T has been charging me for a few things that I didn’t order…for many months. So gross.
All reversed but thank you!!
I just found out about this hack today, and I just enabled both SIM and Port Out protection. Thanks for providing this info!!!
Thanks Joe. For Straight Talk customers I found the turn on switch in my account settings in the mobile app.
This is sort of enabled by default here. You can't swap sims or change carriers without personally being there with your id. Also, when you change sims/operators, banks disable your 2FA it's kind of tied to your sim not just your phone number. You have to personally go to each bank or their ATM with a valid card and remove the sim lock / accept the sim change. Until then you can't login to mobile apps, or do online shopping with your credit cards.
Thank you! I just locked my Verizon and Mint Mobile numbers. I appreciate you.
Hey Thio... Big fan of the channel for a long time. Just had this video come up on my notifications. Logged in immediately and enabled both features. You are the "boss man". I feel so much more comfortable now. Thanks for keeping us safe.
Already enabled, thanks for letting people know!
Definitely enable this protection, but you might want to add an annual reminder that it’s on so you remember to turn it off when you get a new phone. I had forgotten that I had added this protection, and a couple months ago it caused a delay while I “troubleshoot” why I couldn’t switch my esim to a new phone 😅
I’m definitely going to enable this feature. I just learned of SIM swaps and was wondering what T-Mobile was doing about it. Thanks for this information!
I'm in...saw other vids talking about the sim swap problem but no solutions...You have a solution so Thank You for the info...
Just implemented it with T-Mobile. Thank you so much😊
This is the best overview I've seen of this issue, along with how to address it. Thanks for posting!
Solid information, outstanding tips. Had Sim Swap Protection on, turned on Port Out Protection. Thank-you.
Thanks!
I have used the number port lock on Verizon, did not know sim was separate. Thanks for the information! I just turned on Sim lock.
Thank you! I just watched this and enabled it right away on the ATT app. I only have the PIN that serves the same purpose, but the additional layer of protection should help. Appreciate your knowledge
Back in 2000-ish, it was well known that telephone companies themselves would cold call the receptionist of businesses, and then tell them they were from "their telephone company". They were calling to verify everything was OK, and that because of company policies they needed to customer to state they were using [insert the actual company name the caller was working for]. Receptionists knowing who the business was using for their telephone company wasn't usual, so easy target.
That's ALL it took for that company to then switch a business wholesale to the new telephone company. And it was recorded. Pretty sure Congress put a stop to that eventually.
I ran into it when the receptionist simply forwarded a phone call to me (IT guy). The caller tried that with me. I instead pretended to be an old IT guy hard of hearing. Spent a good ten minutes of their time before they simply cut out in frustration. Regardless, I had a training meeting as soon as I could with everyone no matter who they were about it. Never talk to the telephone company unless YOU call them yourself.
Thank you for this video. I turned on those features. Not sure why the cell companies don't make customers aware of this. It would be a win win situation for both.
I read that banks in Africa implemented a check before each transaction and checked with the carrier if the SIM was recently switched, and blocked the account for some days if it was.
Thank you!!! This was genuinely useful info that someone slipped right by me. Just logged in and enabled both protection features on all my lines.
Thank you, I hadn't even finished the video before I opted in an shared it with my family
We need regulatory changes to better protect consumers in Canada! SIM and port swapping protection, and Canada-wide credit freeze! CRTC, act now!
In France, scammers call the phone holder, not a customer representative, to have them read out the 2FA code. If this technique would happen here, scammers would just trick the customer into removing the option, then tell them they will call back after a series of internal tests (because I read the protection goes off after 15 minutes).
It won't stop the fraud, yet the targeted people will change.
Thank you for the video. I just enabled all the security settings on my phones. I didn’t know you can do something like that. It was something I was worried about. But not any longer.
I did it in my verizon! Stopping scammers is a must.
Thanks so much for making this video. I had no idea that this oprion was available at AT&T. I was a victim of a SIM swap scam in 2022 and it was a nightmare. I enabled the account lock just now!
Lots of good info. I knew about the phone number locking with my carrier, in fact I remember when I used the accoutn app months ago, it specifically popped up something offering to turn that on. However, I was not aware they also no offered a SIM locking option.
Thanks a million for this info. Went thru all settings as well, amazing how much was being "shared" without explicit consent in "privacy" settings
Thanks for those info. It's funny that they say they are all about our security, yet never tell you that this is something you should be aware of. Absolutely enabled it. Might even drop our wireless provider... sick of these big corporations who leach off of customers. I know... stop yelling lol
Thanks for the updates. I'll stop by my phone carrier's store this week to sort it all out.
For Verizon if you have the app click on your device select manage device scroll down should show up as Number Lock seems some phones are enabled automatically but Check to be sure
I enabled the feature on AT&T. Thank you for the information.
It's best to have a separate phone number for 2FA that you NEVER give out to anyone for contacting you normally, just to banks etc. that require a phone for 2FA.
SMS really should not be used for 2FA/MFA at all. It's ridiculous that my email and social media accounts have better security than most banks.
@@Retro6502 text codes is the least secure method of 2FA. If possible use an authenticator app
It’s best to avoid SMS OTP all together.
@@AliAvali Absolutely, but so many places require it (unless you avoid those businesses).
@@Retro6502 yes, most banks only offer text codes.
Utilizing a Yubikey would be a huge step forward in securing phones/computers.
I enjoyed the explanation in the beginning because I wanted to make sure this was the fix I was looking for!
Visible (by Verizon) calls it Line Lock. It's available on their website or app under Account/Privacy & Security/Account Security/Manage Number Security/Line Lock. It just takes a moment.
Thank you so much for this. I e been seeing a ton of scary videos about sim swap scams, but they don’t mention this fix.
It's interesting that the USA is only just getting around to doing this. In Canada, we've had text requests for ports and SIM swaps for at least a few years now. We don't have SIM locking though, but some companies offer port protection, which blocks ports of numbers even if the text request is replied to. Surprising that they didn't look to how Canada was doing it to see that it's only been successful for helping to curb SIM theft and number theft.
Thanks for the information - for Straight Talk users - it is called Line Lock
Another far more dangerous attack is the S7 man in the middle attack. Everyone should disable roaming on the account if they don't travel and enable only when travelling.
I enabled both on my Verizon account. I had no idea it was an option. Thanks!
Thanks for this. I recently added minutes to my phone and they prompted me for this and I didn’t know what to do, so now I can go back and say yes.
awesome info. I have multiple phones and just did this for all of them.
Why is this feature not turned on automatically when you purchase your newer phone?
Thank you! Would have never known about the option to do this if wasn't for this video. Sub'd!
In Canada the number being ported out gets a text that you need to approve. If it isn't approved in a certain amount of time the port out fails.
I am so glad I found your site. I will take the steps to prevent this. THX😊
Never had trouble, but thanks for this video. I try to be saavy about security and such and I just logged into my provider while watching this and sure enough, SIM out protection wasn't turned on.
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!! I have been worried about this for months!
Thanks. Glad to hear companies are addressing this issue.
Added Number Lock on my Xfinity phone. Thanks for the info.
Thank you so much for this info. I wanted to have these lock features set in place with my phone carrier, and with your information, now I do.
Thank you TJ for info. to swap 'I'm ok aS I aM' thought. Security evolves as tech does, so...rock on brother.
What if my phone got bricked with that "security" feature, would I still be able to change it? I thought that the phone service providers would be able to differentiate in a physical later of their transmitter an authenticate caller from the impersonator but it seems they've opened a loophole for spammers to call you using your phone number.
FYI mint mobile has this in their app under settings. Default is to have it enabled. If you don't want the number lock you need to change that but imho I'm glad to have it.
FYI... Number Lock was defaulted on my phone to disabled.
My phone service provider added this some months ago, even though I wouldn't be a target, its something so simple and i'll forget about it but it'd protect me
Thanks for posting this bro. It's about time they started thinking about consumers. Investigate why Banks don't provide authenticators, just text.
Yes, tracfone has it, and they never even let me know, called linelock, I have it now. Long awaited for this security, all tho i'm low income, I wouldn't want hassles of having no phone
Thank you for uploading this Brother!!!
Just did it for our three lines. Thanks a lot!
Thank you for the video. I had number lock on but not SIM Protection.
NOTE: The MyVerizon app allows you to set number lock but PIN Protection apears to be abailable only from the web
Got it Bud! Great job.I'm definitely going to enable both on t mobile. 👍