Cases of line hijacking were increasing and Anatel decided to change the rules. Find out more!
With the increase in the number of scams, the National Telecommunications Agency, Anatel, changed the rules for cell phone portability. The new measures came into effect last Monday (28), and aim to put an end to cases of hijacking of telephone lines.
Portability is a right for consumers of mobile or fixed-line telephone services, allowing them to change operators without having to change their telephone number. Portability scams have been widely discussed in recent months and occur when criminals gain access to the user's line, taking control of messages, calls and social networks.
Find out everything about the portability scam and learn about the new rules for changing operators in the country.
Portability
As already mentioned, portability is a right of telephone service users in Brazil. This means that consumers can have the option of changing operators without losing their current telephone number.
In a blow which was becoming quite common, criminals were able to access user data, such as full name, CPF and telephone number and called the operators pretending to be the person, requesting the portability of their number. Once successful, they took control of the victim's line, being able to access their calls, messages and social networks, as if they were the victim. The user, without knowing anything, ended up losing access to their data.
By being able to access social networks, send messages and make calls, criminals applied blows in the name of the owner of the line, asking for money, selling false objects and investments.
New rules
To avoid this type of scam, telephone line hijacking, Anatel has decided to implement new measures that operators must follow. According to the Agency, companies have new obligations to make adjustments to portability procedures to eliminate the possibility of fraudulent practices.
The new rules came into effect on Monday (28) and establish that customers interested in making the transfer must respond to an SMS message on their device within a maximum period of six hours.
By responding to the message with “YES” the user’s request will be validated. If the user does not respond, or responds with “NO”, the request will be automatically canceled. According to Anatel, the changes have been in development since last year and the new rules should not change the relationship between customers and operators.
According to experts in the field, the change will not imply major changes for the user, but the verification will contribute to the security of the line and data, as this type of procedure has already been adopted by applications and has achieved the expected success.
Implementation
The implementation of the new rules began in April this year, with tests carried out in locations with the area code 64 and was expanded to the Central-West and North regions. Now, they have come into effect throughout the country.
With the new rules, Anatel aims to provide users with a more reliable and protected experience when choosing to exercise their right to portability. According to the agency, the introduction of this new process will bring significant changes to operators' sales channels, such as adjustments to customer service team training systems and information sharing between operators.
