FRAUD PREVENTION

Fraudsters use a practice called phishing to trick people into giving up their personal information. Phishing schemes start with fraudsters pretending to be legitimate businesses which are contacting potential victims through phone, email and text message and luring them into sharing private information such as social security numbers, account PINs and passwords or credit card and banking information. For example, they may pretend to be from UScellular telling you that your account is past due, at risk of being suspended or canceled unless you provide payment information immediately. Other fraudsters will promise you compensation, discounts or rebates if you provide your personal information directly or through a website.
With today’s technology fraudsters often spoof their information by creating fake email addresses or disguising their phone numbers when attempting to trick people into sharing private information. They even create fake websites that look similar to the company they’re pretending to be.
Once fraudsters obtain your information, they may:

• Take over your account and order new phones or accessories and have them shipped to a different address. Fraudsters do this without your knowledge and leave you to deal with the charges.
• Transfer (port-out) your mobile number to a different carrier to use on their own device. They may attempt to gain access to your other online accounts by resetting passwords or otherwise authenticating themselves as you through your mobile number.

There are several ways you can protect your UScellular account information. Your account has a PIN code that must be verified before the account information can be accessed. We also have several security questions that you can answer if you forget your PIN.
When selecting a PIN for your account, pick a unique number that’s not easy to guess. Some numbers to avoid include:

• Last 4 digits of your SSN
• Birthdays
• Anniversary dates
• Common numerical values (1234, 2020, 1111)

Make sure that the answers you provide to security questions are not common knowledge, or that you don’t share them accidentally on social media or other areas that can be accessed by fraudsters. Examples include: What was the first concert you went to? What is your favorite drink?

Immediately report any concerns to UScellular Customer Service at 888-944-9400 for issues such as:

• A lost or stolen phone.
• Your cell phone suddenly no longer connects to the network.
• Frequent wrong number calls or hang-ups.
• Requests such as asking for your device’s ESN (Electronic Serial Number) or IMEI from someone claiming to be from UScellular.

• Lock your wireless phone (with a PIN code) when not in use and employ a full password (not a 4-digit code). If available, use the fingerprint or Face ID features on your device in addition to a passcode.
• Check your credit report regularly for errors. You can obtain a free copy of your credit report from each nationwide credit reporting company for free. For more information see the FTC website.
• Do not carry extra credit cards, your social security card, birth certificate or passport with you unless it is necessary.
• Destroy or shred preapproved credit applications, bank statements, phone bills and credit card receipts before throwing them away.
• Limit the ability of companies to share your information with third parties by reviewing their privacy policies. This is sometimes buried in the fine print.
• Keep all documents containing personal information in a safe place.
• Use a password manager to avoid using insecure and repeated passwords online.
• Look for unusual activity on your bills.

Please contact your financial institution directly to submit a payment dispute. Your financial institution will work with UScellular to investigate.

What else can I do?

• Lock your wireless phone (with a PIN code) when not in use and employ a full password, not a 4-digit code. If available, use the fingerprint or Face ID features on your device in addition to a passcode.
• Check your credit report regularly for errors. You can obtain a free copy of your credit report from each nationwide credit reporting company for free. For more information see the FTC website.
• Do not carry extra credit cards, your social security card, birth certificate or passport with you unless it is necessary.
• Destroy or shred preapproved credit applications, bank statements, phone bills and credit card receipts before throwing them away.
• Limit the ability of companies to share your information with third parties by reviewing their privacy policies. This is sometimes buried in the fine print.
• Keep all documents containing personal information in a safe place.
• Use a password manager to avoid using insecure and repeated passwords online.
• Look for unusual activity on your bills.

Phishing calls start by pretending to be legitimate businesses or trustworthy sources and can compromise all types of data sources. The message directs you to visit a website or call a number where you are asked to update personal information that the legitimate organization already has. The website or phone number, however, is fake and is set up only to steal your information.

Phishing comes in the form of unsolicited messages via email (phishing), voice calls (vishing), or text messages (smishing) and request an action or information from you. Often this takes the form of a link that is meant to be clicked on and will look almost identical to the official website of the company. Victims are asked to share personal, private information like website login/passwords, social security numbers, account PINs or credit card and banking information.

• Learn to spot phishing.
• Be suspicious of urgency. Anything unexpected that requires you to act now to avoid a consequence.
• Inspect the email address for accuracy. Trusted senders will use an email address that matches their website.
• Generic greetings, bad spelling and grammar and first-time senders can all be tip offs to phishing as well.
• Set your phone to do automatic software updates.
• Protect your accounts by setting up Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). This will require two or more credentials to access your account: 1) your password and 2) an additional one-time verification passcode sent via text, email, or an authenticator app.

Only share your personal information when necessary.
You should confirm a few things before responding to any unsolicited phone calls for personal information:

• Who is asking for the information and are you sure they are who they claim to be?
• Why do they need this information?

If at all unsure, do not respond. Contact the requester’s company or agency directly through a published number and verify they’re legitimate.
You can also contact us or visit us in-store to report issues.
Note: UScellular will never ask you to use email or text to provide us with personal information.

Forward any questionable message via text to 7726 from your UScellular phone. Reporting these messages to 7726 helps us identify phishing messages fraudsters send our customers. We use this information to strengthen our phishing prevention efforts.

• You can contact us directly or dial 611 from your cellphone.
• We encourage customers to report all phishing attempts to the FTC at http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/.