Mounties in the South Okanagan have issued a warning about a phone scam being attempted in the region. 

Criminals are obtaining people’s phone numbers, names and as much information as they can gather before calling up their service providers. 

They then imitate the phone’s owner and get the provider to port their number over to another phone. 

Photo credit: File

Once this has been achieved, they can gain access to all kinds of online accounts that use two-step verification – sending a text to a number before allowing logins – and ransack them for cash. 

Officers in Penticton said the increasingly popular scam is showing up in the Okanagan. 

They offer the following three tips to help avoid being scammed: 

• Ask your mobile phone provider to set up a unique pin code to prevent porting without your authorization

• Watch out for your cell phone disconnecting from cell service 

• Be careful of texts and emails you receive which request information from you, often called “phishing” 

If you become a victim of this kind of scam, report it to your local RCMP detachment.