How hard is it for someone to steal your phone number?

Not as hard as you might think.

And once they get it, they can use it to intercept your messages and empty your bank account.

Watch scam alert here:

Stealing your phone number

T-Mobile put out a warning, saying crooks are trying to take your phone number so they can drain your bank account, along with other crimes.

The T-Mobile message calls it a port out scam. The bad guy calls up the phone company or visits a store — pretends to be you — and transfers your number to their phone so they can intercept your messages.

Then they can access your money, social media accounts and more.

T-Mobile says you should set up a special PIN to stop it from happening.

However, a man from Washington state is suing the company, saying he had an anti-porting PIN but T-Mobile still let someone steal his number and about $20,000 in Bitcoin.

T-Mobile warned its customers that scammers are trying to steal phone numbers. Image credit: Archer News

Fake Keypad

Would you be able to spot this fake keypad at your grocery store?

That’s the question from security writer Brian Krebs.

He says bad guys are quietly slipping these on card readers at the checkout stand in supermarkets in Pennsylvania.

They can steal your card number and PIN and get your money.

Krebs says he pays with a credit card or cash rather than a debit card, which thieves can clone and use to take money from your bank account.

A skimmer used by thieves at an Aldi’s supermarket in Pennsylvania, according to Krebs on Security. Image credit: Krebs on Security

Amazon Key hacked?

You might like the idea of the Amazon Key — a special program to let Amazon delivery people into your house for just a few moments to drop off your package as you watch on your phone.

But a researcher says this video shows that a thief could hack the Amazon Key and stop the door from locking behind the delivery person as it’s supposed to do.

Amazon told tech magazine TechRadar that Amazon would know the door was still unlocked and send you an alert.

This is the second reported hack on Amazon Key since the program started last year. 

Still image from a researcher’s video in which he says a hacker can get in a door through the Amazon Key program. Image credit: MG on Twitter

Fake Reddit

A researcher is warning about a fake Reddit website that tricks people into giving up their passwords…

It’s Reddit.co instead of Reddit.com.

If you compare the fake and real Reddits, you can see they look very similar.

Fake site:

Real site:

Deepfakes

Motherboard is sending up a flare about fake porn — so called “deepfakes” where people put celebrities’ faces onto porn videos, making it look like the celebrities are performing sex acts.

Motherboard says deepfakers are selling their services on Reddit — the real Reddit — so people can make deepfakes of their friends, neighbors and enemies.

However, Reddit just banned deepfakes community for violating Reddit’s policy against involuntary pornography.

See other alerts:

Scam Alert #4 — Porn ads for kids & disappearing banks

Scam Alert #3 — Coin hacks & fake Netflix e-mails

Scam Alert #2 — Spider virus & fake assassins

Scam Alert #1 — 800# number scammers & evil apps

See more Scam Alerts here at Archer News.