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Two-step verification is practically essential to perform certain types of operations such as changing passwords, and this action is usually linked to a mobile phone number. Moreover, in many cases it is more than enough just to enter a mobile phone number for certain social media to indicate who is the account holder.
For this reason Spain's leading, independent consumer association, Facua-Consumidores en Acción, has issed an alert to make the public more aware of the danger of unsubscribing from a mobile phone number without first unlinking it from all the user's social media accounts, as well as from any online platform of which they are a registered customer (websites, apps and so on). "Failure to do so can put their privacy at risk," states a Facua spokesperson.
Facua explains that it is quite common for an SMS or WhatsApp message to be sent to the phone number with a security code whenever a password recovery is requested. Also, many social media channels also allow that phone number to be used to log in as an alternative to username or email.
Phone numbers can be reassigned by the telecommunications company to a new user after 30 days have elapsed since they were cancelled by the previous owner. This means, as Facua points out, that a user who receives a phone number previously held by another user could request a password recovery from a social media channel belonging to the former owner of that number. They could then change passwords or access that user's profile. They might even do so without being aware of it, thinking that they are asking for the passwords to their own social media accounts.
"In any case, control of the account would pass to the new holder of that phone number who would, among other things, have access to the private messages sent and received by the profile owner," explains this consumer group.
Facua therefore advises users to unlink their old phone number from all online networks and platforms before changing to their new number. To do so, the user should find out how to take action, which may vary depending on the platform, although in most cases it is enough to modify the personal information to remove or replace the telephone number in the user's personal settings.
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