Lorrie Cranor wasn’t too worried when her phone died a few weeks ago. Dropped calls are as common as delayed trains and cracked screens. The next morning, it was still dead. Her husband’s was too. And that’s how the chief technologist of the Federal Trade Commission discovered that someone hijacked her mobile account.

Cranor is not just tech-savvy. She’s a digital security guru, a Carnegie Mellon University professor who specializes in passwords and authentication. And she is a reminder that identity theft can happen to anyone. Even the experts.
Account Override

Here’s what happened to Cranor, as best as she can tell: A woman walked into a retail carrier store in Ohio, identified herself as Lorrie Cranor and bought two Apple iPhones on an installment plan. She billed them to Cranor’s account and walked away. That’s all it took. No elaborate Ocean’s Eleven plot, no fanciful Swordfish hacking.

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http://www.wired.com/2016/06/even-ftcs-lead-technologist-can-get-hacked/

Fraud Alert: ID thieves hijack mobile phone accounts

Identity thieves have come up with another devious way to make money by pretending to be someone else — hijacking mobile phone accounts.

While a common criminal might try to snatch your smartphone for some quick cash, these clever crooks take over your wireless account.

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By taking control of your mobile account, a fraudster can buy new equipment, such as expensive smartphones, bill them to your account and then sell them.

“This type of fraud is a form of money laundering,” said Robert Siciliano, CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com. “They’re turning someone’s personal information into cash by buying the phones and then selling them.”

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http://counton2.com/2016/06/29/fraud-alert-id-thieves-hijack-mobile-phone-accounts/