The OTP mistake

Greetings!

Like I usually tell people, anybody's data is hackable if the hacker is very desperate, but on a standard ground, not everyone is easily hacked like the way people claim. Some people are so scared of being hacked that they hesitate to use their phone numbers to register on websites. You've seen people like that, right?...people who are so cautious of getting scammed that, even on a verified and recognized site, they're skeptical about inputting their phone numbers.
From what I've learned, it's very rare to get scammed just by providing your phone number, especially when it comes to someone's money being stolen from their bank account. Most of these scams require personal authentication or approval, such as an OTP sent via phone number or email.

A friend of mine had this cybersecurity issue two years ago. He was asked by someone his friend, a virtual friend, to use his phone number to register on an app to collect a referral profit from an event. My friend didn't argue because they were somewhat close.

The guy collected my friend's number, registered, and asked my friend for the OTP, which he gave him without pausing to properly ask what the app was all about.

After the registration, about three months later, my friend began to receive SMS notifications telling him he had one more month to pay back a borrowed amount; otherwise, high interest would be added.
That's it, the guy that collected his number used it to borrow money from a loan app.

That was when I learned about the issue because my friend came to me for help to sort out a solution without paying the money. I told him to message the virtual friend he had lent his number to and query him about such a wicked act. He said he did, and when the guy noticed the messages were becoming too frequent, he blocked him. High level of wickedness!

It's so unfair to have to pay for such money, N10,000 for that matter. So we began to find ways to remedy the situation, but no way. The messages kept coming, and when the time expired, the loan company started calling instead of sending SMS. We tried to email them via their official email, explaining the situation, but we never got a reply. In a situation like that, I wasn't expecting them to be understanding or considerate. It's my friend who messed up by giving out his details, especially the OTP, without asking proper questions.

When the calls became too frequent, with threats of visiting my friend physically, I advised him to stop using the SIM for the time being. He did that, even though it was difficult because it was his primary SIM (number).
That's what settled the issue. He let go of the SIM, and in the middle of last year, he inserted it back into his phone and began using it again. Who knows whether the loan company will be notified and start disturbing him again?😏

Well, my friend learned his lesson well.

Thanks for reading.

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