here's what to do if you're a victim

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“We are writing to you to inform you that Free was the victim of a cyberattack,” the internet and mobile operator finally admitted in an alert email sent a few days ago to the subscribers concerned.

Name, first name, email and postal addresses, date and place of birth, telephone number(s), subscriber identifier and contractual data (type of offer subscribed, date of subscription, active subscription or not), and, for certain people, bank account references or IBAN (International bank account number).

In total, the author of the hack claimed on the Web to have stolen 19.2 million customer data! Personal data, including more than 5 million IBANs of Freebox subscribers, which were allegedly sold for around 160,000 euros.

Millions of Free customers, the second largest telephone operator in France, would therefore be affected. If passwords were not in nature, a preliminary investigation has been opened for the offenses of “attacks on automated data processing systems, fraudulent collection of personal data and concealment of property resulting from a crime”, lists the CNIL, the national commission for information technology and freedoms.

Two ways to file a complaint

Are you a Free customer and worried? The operator has implemented a toll-free number, available 7 days a week from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. for Free customers: 0 805 921 100.

And you also have the possibility of filing a complaint. Free users can do this in two ways: either directly with the CNIL, here, if they consider that their “personal data has not been sufficiently secured”, or with the police or gendarmerie, they are victims of “identity theft, scam or fraudulent payments”.

What advice for Free customers?

For its part, the assistance site for victims of cybercrime recommends that the people concerned be particularly wary of any telephone call or message (email, SMS, etc.) from people who claim to know you based on the stolen information and contact you in the aim of extracting confidential information from you (codes, passwords, etc.) or having banking transactions validated (fake bank advisor or telecom operator, etc.).

The potential consequences of this case concern the different forms of phishing, attempted fraud or identity theft, hijacking of mobile telephone lines, or even unauthorized withdrawals of which the persons concerned could be victims. by this incident.

A word of advice: always authenticate your contact by calling back your customer service at their usual number or by consulting the information available in your personal space for the department concerned.

You can inform your bank of the disclosure of your IBAN

Another recommendation is to regularly monitor the bank account of which you have been informed that the IBAN has been stolen and to ask your bank for reimbursement of any transaction of which you are not the author (e.g. direct debit that you have not not duly authorized…), as well as the removal of the direct debit authorization concerned if applicable, invoking article L133-24 of the Monetary and Financial Code.

You can also inform your bank of the disclosure of your IBAN so that it places the account concerned under increased vigilance.

Another piece of advice is to immediately alert your operator in the event of prolonged loss of connection on your mobile telephone line, to ensure that you have not been the victim of a fraudulent exchange of your SIM card (also called “SIM swapping”). in English).

If your operator confirms this to you, have them reallocate your line without delay, as it could be used to recover your communications, and especially the single-use security codes used for the validation of certain sensitive operations (banking for example).

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