Telstra ported my number to a scammer this afternoon, completed the transaction without asking me

[IPE]

Telstra ported my number to a scammer this afternoon, who then hacked my email, bank, PayPal and insurance accounts using the number for verification.

Telstra did send me an email asking if I had authorised the transfer AFTER the fact, I called, answer was NO I had not authorised it, but that was not an answer they were interested in. I called Telstra on the number provided in their warning email (within minutes I called them), they told me it was not their problem anymore as the number was now with Belong .. which was my point exactly .. I am a Telstra customer and they ported my number to Belong and into the hands of a scammer. They told me to call Belong and I pointed out Belong do not have a phone number ..so they gave me an Belong complaints email address .. which they told me could take 48 hours to get an answer from .. in the meantime the scammer is running wild in my accounts and starting to use my Paypal to make payments. I just want Telstra to port my number back .. and restore all the credit inc databank I had on my account.

The Telecommunications (Mobile Number Pre-Porting Additional Identity Verification) Industry Standard 2020 was written to stop this, why do Telstra not follow the standard???

I want my number back and my account re-instated .. this is sooooo stressful, I cannot stop the hacker using my number as Telstra refer me to Belong (who they own) .. but I am a Telstra customer, fully paid, but now my credit and databank has disappeared from my account too .. why should I deal with Belong???? I paid for a premium service .. and Telstra sold me out.

PLEASE HELP

I have also lodged a complaint with the police and the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman ..

[Jupiter]

You have done everything that you can do. There is no other advice that we can offer here.

In the case of a service being ported away from Telstra, Telstra is still responsible for regaining the number by reversing the port (relatively simple in this case as Belong is owned by Telstra). You should not have to be dealing with Belong at all. The consultant who told you that you needed to contact Belong was not only wrong, they have breached the code themselves.

If Telstra failed to verify your request to port by a secondary means (other than the request by the other provider), then that would be a breach of code. There is always the possibility that your email had already been hacked previously and that they had used that information to verify the transfer.

[IPE]

Agreed - we put two calls into Telstra (had my daughter call the 2nd time), Telstra kept us on hold for 30mins @ a time, with no resolution or help other than repeatedly tell me to call Belong .. which they also conceded on the call was actually impossible to do,  whilst I am trying to call banks, insurance and regain email access .. all with borrowed phones with low batteries, I think I am going to die of stress.

You think Telstra would treat me like a customer, not an ex-customer. They ported my service to a scammer without my permission and I called within 30 mins to report it was unauthorised .. 

Utterly awful customer service .. 

I will go to a Telstra shop (where I bought the SIM) to see if they care and can help.

[Jupiter]

The Telstra Shop may care, but there won't be much they can do about it unfortunately. Porting is handled by a team within the back of house of Telstra and the retail stores do not have access other than to put in porting requests.

I can almost bet that they will tell you to contact Telstra by sending a message using the My Telstra app or calling 132200. The stores really should have a direct line to Telstra for issues like these.

[IPE]

I can't call anyone as they have ported my number!

It's the shop I bought the service from (Macquarie centre) so I hope they will help ..

We called Telstra twice yesterday mid attack and their reply was for me to call Belong ..

[IvanS]

Hi IPE, 

It's very concerning to see that your mobile number has been ported without your confirmation. I have sent you a private message to follow up.