Saskatchewan cattle farm victim of new phone scam

A Saskatchewan cattle farm is sounding the alarm after it lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in a phone scam.

According to CBC News, Johnston Livestock was a victim of what’s called a port-out fraud. Basically, the scammer either finds personal information about you online through social media, or some other means, including calling the farm and impersonating a farm or business and uses that info to trick your service provider into thinking they’re you. Then they swap your phone number to their device, allowing them to gather more details of your identity. Since their phone is now receiving your texts, calls and updates, they can quickly gather more information to access your bank accounts.

External communications manager Greg Jacobs with SaskTel, the family’s service provider, told CBC News that frauds like this are still extremely rare but are becoming more common across the country.

According to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, the first sign of a port-out fraud is your phone unexpectedly losing service. A cellphone with an active service plan is suddenly unable to connect for hours or days for no apparent reason.

Contact your service provider to find out if, or when, your number was switched.