For the last few weeks, T-Mobile customers have been receiving text message alerts warning them about “an industry-wide phone number port out scam.”
Motherboard confirmed with T-Mobile on Monday that the alert is authentic. A company spokesperson told Motherboard and Gizmodo that the company is alerting its entire “post-paid customer base,” but said not all customers have received the message yet because, “that takes time and can’t be done all at once.”
T-Mobile also sent the alert out on the T-Mobile app and website.
A Gizmodo editor who uses T-Mobile received the alert on Thursday. A Twitter search shows that people have been receiving the alerts since as early as January 18th. There’s no reason to think this was a strategic effort, but it seems the gradual alerts have averted much public attention about the matter until now.