In this scenario, an attacker tricks a mobile provider into transferring a victim's mobile number to a new account under the attacker's control.
Mobile number portability was introduced in 2008, allowing users to retain their mobile phone numbers when switching between network operators.
It is not possible, however, to transfer a mobile number to a land-based operator and vice versa.
Due to mobile number portability, a mobile phone with a prefix of one provider can be associated with a different provider.
Each mobile number has an equivalent voicemail number, the network code is in the format 6x8.
Access to voicemail from the mobile handset incurred local or long distance rates; messages also were retrievable by calling the mobile number from another telephone.
To find out whether a particular number belongs to a specific network provider, one can text the mobile number of interest to 300.
He said he had been asked to contact the police by someone else and gave his mobile number.
