Anatel announced new rules for telephone portability in the country. This change was motivated by the increase in the numbers of the so-called “Portability Scam”. Therefore, starting this Monday (28), the consumer will have to confirm the portability request via SMS within a specified period.
The main objective of National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) is to create barriers that reduce fraudulent actions that transfer telephone numbers and invade people's social networks.
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In 2023, the “Portability Scam” has already claimed several victims in the country, including affecting people with high visibility on the web. Scammers often take advantage of access to personal social networks to publish fraudulent offers for investments or sales of products.
Anatel's new rule for number portability
According to Anatel, the consumer will be able to request number portability to the new operator of their choice. However, they must respond to an SMS text message within 6 hours to confirm the request.
The message sent will give the response options “Yes” and “No”.
“If the customer does not respond, or responds NO, the portability will be automatically canceled”, informed the national agency.
Another important procedure of the new rule is that operators will have to inform the consumer of all requests made on the telephone line.
Since April, the new protocol was being tested in some regions of the country. Now, the rule applies to all DDDs in the national territory.
(Image: Freepik/Reproduction)
How does the ‘portability scam’ work?
The “portability scam” is done so that criminals can take control of the telephone line. From there, they invade social networks to publish investment offers and other frauds.
Professor and YouTuber Marcel Albuquerque was already a victim of this scam and told Agência Brasil how the scammers managed to use his image to apply the fraud.
“He [the scammer] used photos of me from his own story and put a text with investment options. He also used a video in another context that seemed like I was recommending that,” Marcel told the news portal.
After the event, he discovered that these people managed to access his personal data and requested number portability to another operator.
Because of cases like this, Anatel created new procedures that prevent changing operators without confirmation via SMS. The announcement of the new rules represents an important step forward in the fight against scams related to number portability between operators.
