MAJOR Cell C security risk - Number ported without client's knowledge or permission

[TidalWave]

Last Monday a Cell C client discovered that his number had been ported to Telkom without his permission. A company requested a port but the wrong number was ported and Cell C take no responsibility for the error. The client was sent to Telkom to try and sort out the mess Cell C created. Four days later the client still has no service and Telkom have no interest in taking urgent action but Cell C hold the client liable for continued payment of the contract.

I have a copy of all the emails of this erroneous transaction and am horrified by the way the client has been treated and by the wider implications: Anyone relying on cellphone banking via Cell C has no security whatsoever, your number can be ported at the request of an outsider and all transaction notifications go to the new owner of your phone number.

Cell C this is totally unacceptable and users need reassurance that:
1. Internal policies and procedures, if applied, make this impossible.
2. If these are not followed immediate action is taken to rectify the resulting mess.
3. The customer is made aware that Cell C own the problem and will fix it.
4. An internal investigation is carried out to prevent recurrence.

Cell C it is impossible to escalate the problem via your contact numbers but urgent action is needed.

 

[cavedog]

This is not uncommon and worse than sim swap fraud. Porting out without proper Number confirmation is a BIG BIG problem I was trying to get addressed.....


Some carriers or service providers don't follow porting rules and don't verify numbers they are porting. Me&You and Virgin Mobile being the biggest and now 3rd party providers that resell topup contracts from Telkom and Cellc. They just push a port request and if all there is no reason why the donor network won't reject the request and proceed with the port....

You need to call Cellc port support and ask them to please action a Port Reversal where the port gets revered and your old simcard starts working again. Easier said than done though as I have been a victim of this scam too just because I have a easy cellphone number so someone tried to steal it.