Belarusian inserted a new SIM card and gained access to strangers' Telegram chats

Illustrative photo. Photo: Nasha Niva

“I didn’t even know that this number already belonged to someone. Then I learned a little that I had to pay 25 rubles to get a so-called "white" number — one that had never been used before. Of course, I would have taken it for my child to be sure that strangers wouldn't accidentally call them.

Previously, I already knew that, for example, if I didn't use a SIM card and didn't pay for it, my number could go to someone else, and that person could register their new Telegram account with that number. But I didn't know that in this case, the new owner could gain access to the subscriptions and correspondence of the previous owner.”

The man read that to deactivate the previous account and create a new one, he first needed to log out of the old account on all devices. But he couldn't do it immediately:

“A message popped up in Telegram saying that I cannot log out of all accounts using a new device. It turned out that the old account, linked to my child’s phone, was still being used by the previous owner.”

Dmitry, from his personal account, wrote to the former owner of the number on Telegram and asked him to log out of the account on all devices. The person replied after a day: “Ok,” — and indeed logged out of the account on other devices. The problem was resolved — a new "clean" account was created, but an unpleasant feeling remained.

Mobile operator: when changing a number, remove service bindings

Journalists contacted MTS for comment (Dmitry had connected his child to MTS) and received the following response:

“MTS has implemented a mechanism that allows subscribers to avoid the risk of getting a number with a history. When connecting a "white" number, the client receives a combination of digits that has never been used before for registration in messengers, social networks, or services.

For security purposes, we strongly advise you to always set up two-factor authentication and regularly check active sessions when using various applications. And when changing a number, be sure to remove its binding from all services — banking applications, online stores, social networks, and messengers. These steps minimize the likelihood of access to correspondence and contacts.

However, if a subscriber accidentally gains access to someone else's data, it is important to act in good faith: immediately log out of the account, notify the service's support team, and, if possible, the previous user. Intentional use of someone else's information may be considered a violation of privacy and entail liability under the law.”

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