Someone used my name and email address to create a free TextNow messaging and telephone account. It appears to be a service that allows you to make free phone calls and text messages. The way I found out was that I received an email from TextNow saying that the number assigned to the account would expire if I did not login and send a message using the number.
I was wondering, what benefit does someone have using my email address to create the account, and what kind of fraud / identity theft risks do I face?
I logged in using the password recovery. The site only shows messages and calls received (unless deleted), but does not show what was sent or calls made from the account. There was only a single text message thread that appears to be gibberish at first, but looks like tweets from Twitter accounts. There was also a missed call from another telephone number. The telephone number assigned to this account has since expired. I contacted TextNow support and someone said I should change the account name and email address, and that it was a free account so no financial transactions were made with it.
I was wondering if a caller ID would show the name on the account, so that someone could impersonate me and call banks to attempt to gain access to my bank accounts. Supposedly only paid accounts will utilize the caller ID. But I also wouldn't know if the person could have created a different paid account with my name.
I also wonder what the benefit of using my email address would be since I would be notified of account activities. The person who opened the account also wouldn't be able to perform the email verification needed to extend the telephone number expiration date. It was also strange that I did not receive the email verification message, unless the person initially opened the account with a different email address then changed it to mine afterward. However if this was the case, I also did not receive an email notification when the change would have taken place.
I was wondering, what benefit does someone have using my email address to create the account, and what kind of fraud / identity theft risks do I face?
I logged in using the password recovery. The site only shows messages and calls received (unless deleted), but does not show what was sent or calls made from the account. There was only a single text message thread that appears to be gibberish at first, but looks like tweets from Twitter accounts. There was also a missed call from another telephone number. The telephone number assigned to this account has since expired. I contacted TextNow support and someone said I should change the account name and email address, and that it was a free account so no financial transactions were made with it.
I was wondering if a caller ID would show the name on the account, so that someone could impersonate me and call banks to attempt to gain access to my bank accounts. Supposedly only paid accounts will utilize the caller ID. But I also wouldn't know if the person could have created a different paid account with my name.
I also wonder what the benefit of using my email address would be since I would be notified of account activities. The person who opened the account also wouldn't be able to perform the email verification needed to extend the telephone number expiration date. It was also strange that I did not receive the email verification message, unless the person initially opened the account with a different email address then changed it to mine afterward. However if this was the case, I also did not receive an email notification when the change would have taken place.