Target in the sim swap scam. Youve probably seen this message on your bank account, social media, or email that adding a phone number adds security. Well, thieves have hacked into this extra layer of protection. They secretly reset your passwords, open your accounts, and steal from you. The scam starts when your cellphones suddenly shows no service. Rob ross i freaked out. Chris and rightly so, one minute, rob rosss investment accounts added up to 1 million. The next moment, zero. Rob i was devastated. I mean, i dont haveit was about 90 of my net worth. Male announcer this is the new apple iic. Chris ross worked at apple in the early days. He started saving 30 years ago, but in a matter of minutes, hackers recently stole his retirement and his 16yearold Daughters College fund. Rob at t said there had been a sim swap request. Chris; the sim is the small card that contains your phone number. The hackers got robs carrier to swap his number off his sim and put it on their phone. That redirected robs calls and text messages, and thats all the hackers needed to clear him out. When you forget your password, many accounts will confirm your identity by texting a Security Code to your cellphone. Thats what the hackers did with robs investment account. Because they had hijacked robs phone number, they got the code and full access to drain his 1 million balance. Rob they traded the money into bitcoin, and then they withdrew it all. Chris we searched our nationwide database of consumer complaints. Female why would they take control over my phone number . Chris and found viewers around the country complaining of the same sim swap scam. Female they stole 4,000 in less than two minutes. Chris Law Enforcement sources estimate 1,000 victims conservatively. So, how are the criminals getting in to so many peoples wireless accounts to swap sims . Trickery and bribery. Male i have a sim card here that chris we pulled Court Records for a few cases that are in court. They show one hacker simply pretending to be an at t agent on the phone with at t to access a target cellular account. Other hackers in online chats brag of paying off carrier salespeople or Call Center Workers with a few bucks or even a small bag of pot. Hackers call them plugs. One writes, my sprint plus is legit. Rob ross fears lowlevel carrier employees are too easily compromised into swapping sims. Rob a lot of people that are going to be susceptible to bribery. Chris what are the carriers doing about that . Rob to my knowledge, theyre not doing anything about that. Chris we asked at t, verizon, sprint, and tmobile how theyre combating sim swaps. At t said, we continually look for ways to enhance our policies and safeguards to protect against these sorts of scams. Verizon recommended users put an administrative block on their account. Tmobile offered the same solution, plus an account pin. Sprints website also suggests a pin for any changes to your service or sim. But Court Records show one sim swappers plug would simply hand it over. Male he just gives me the pin. Justin dolly so, theres definitely some responsibility that i think they need to take. Chris justin dolly is chief Security Officer at secureauth, a Cyber Security firm. He told us wireless carriers track their workers at almost every step. So, now they need to cross reference that big data and weed out whoevers assisting scammers. What youre saying is wireless carriers need to connect the dots. Justin yes, they do. The informations there. Chris so, what do you do about those password resets by text that can open the door for hackers . Consider some changes right now. Ask your bank, brokerage, email, and social Media Companies if they can send unlock codes via email, or text them to a secondary number like google voice instead of your cell. Justin youre one more hop away from the attacker and they may not be able to reach you there. Chris ross has started a website to warn people that your phone could one day read no service. And no matter how much or how little money you have, sim swapping hackers will try to steal it. Rob they dont always know what theyre going to get until they get into the financial accounts, but they keep trying, they keep trying. I mean, this istheyre doing this all day long. Chris if you suddenly see no service on your phone, call your carrier right away from a different phone to see if your service has been swapped. If so, insist they undo it immediately. Then lock down your financial accounts asap. Block withdrawals and check your balances. Report any missing money on the spot. Another phone scam is hittintog e for us here at nbc bay area. Peter smith in San Francisco alerted us that he got a call from nbc bay area. He snapped that photo of his caller id saying kntv and ksts, but this isnt us. Yes, those are our call letters, but this is not us. Peter says the person on the other end of the robocall claimed to be from medicare, and peter says they asked for his Social Security number to get him a new medicare number. That is a known scam praying on the fact that new medicare cards are going out in the mail. The feds have warned us about this fraud and told us these calls are going out. Weve talked about it right here. I could assure you we did not and will not call anyone like this. These robo callers merely spoofed our good name to trick you into picking up. If you get that bogus call, please just ignore it. Mike cobb youco basically just the bottom that i can tell was the safe and the top was this ablutely, just disintegrated. Chris after the noray who lost inc everyding the contents of their safes. When our story on the socalled fireproof safes first aired late last year, it got the attention of a major safe manufacturer. The company invited us to visit its headquarters 2300 miles east of the bay area. There we toured its factory, set a safe on fire, and changed almost 100 years of history. Chris were in the heartland. Male new albany, indiana. Chris where metal bends and gypsum blend. Male we test every batch. Chris craftsmen. Male weve got about 110 people in the plant. Chris and machines. Male we run four days a week, ten hours a day. Chris work in tandem, making safes and file cabinets that are intended tosu this is fireking, which specializes chris a fireking predecessor 0 yepatents ago. Fireking has used the term ever since, but not for much longer. Last year, we revealed how the term fireproof might be misleading. Male melted, yeah. Chris north bay fire victims learned that the hard way when their fireproof safes melted. Mike absolutely, just disintegrated. Chris those revelations reverberated in indiana. Fireking president gary weisman saw our report and learned the term fireproof is meaningless for most of us. Gary weisman its a manufacturers label. Nobodys testing it. Chris so, now after almost 100 years of saying fireproof, weisman has committed to pull tand not say fireproof. Chris future customers will be told how many hours their safe is fireresistant based on independent lab tests. Does the rest of the industry need to follow you . Gary they should. At the end of the day, if the consumers being misled, then you need to do it, make it right. Chris other major safe sellers, including amazon, walmart, and home depot used the word fireproof. So, we shared our research and asked if theyll pull the term too. Not one responded. If you think the lingo doesnt matter. Gary that is an oven. Chris weisman arranged an eyeopening demo. Gary class 72 fire test. Chris two fireproof products, a different manufacturers gun safe and a fireking file cabinet, are heaved and locked in an onsite furnace. The heat quickly soars. Gary thats 1700 degrees. Chris and smoke billows. As a small window into the oven glows orange, engineers see red on their gauges. Male the gun safe has already failed. Chris when workers opened the furnace after 30 minutes then after a few minutes of cooling outside the factory, gary now, this is what happened to a lot of people in the california fires. Chris the fireproof file cabinets exterior is charred, but pieces of paper inside survived the heat blast. The fireproof gun safe however, is a goner. The interior disintegrated. Two products labeled fireproof, but just one survivor. Gary this is not good for our industry. Chris weisman wants his industry to use labels consumers can trust. We wondered if washington should require it. What do you think about a federal standard . Gary we would not be opposed to it. That would stop people from buying these and then losing everything. Chris weisman recommends you look for the ul logo on a safe. Ul runs independent tests, and its ratings should tell you how fireresistant a safe is. If youre unsure, ask the manufacturer. Also ask if theres any kind of guarantee. If so, snap some photos of your safe and its paperwork now, then save those files digitally in case the safe fails. Announcer up next, when a delayed flight derailed her familys big trip, the airline gave her the cold shoulder. How we helped her get hundreds of dollars back thanks to an obscure air travel law. With our famous pastrami and a bigger soft pretzel roll. And try the new turkey bistro with warm turkey and smokehouse bacon. Or the new hot club chicken dijon with dijon mayo and black forest ham. How far would you go for a togo . Were not going to make it. Woo. Heres an announcement you will not hear on the airport pa. Some airlines are required to pay you up to 700 cash when a flight is late or canceled. Its because of something called eu261 thats buried in airline code, and most people have no clue. Pam it was amazing, totally amg. Beautiful countries. Ys rn vacation spanned two pam we slept on the floor of the airport. Chris not by choice. They were flying British Airways from croatia to morocco via london when a crew issue triggered a monster flight delay. Pam sevenhour delay. Chris the otts missed their connecting flight, as well as a prepaid tour the next day. They also wound up paying for the hotel room they couldnt get to. In all, they were out 601. When pam got back home, she asked British Airways for reimbursement. Pam waited a couple weeks and they responded by saying, no, sorry, we dont owe you anything. Chris so, she called us. We contacted British Airways. It offered 200 in vouchers. Pam which is better than what ive got, which was nothing. Chris but we knew British Airways owed pam more, 160more. Like British Airways and American Airlines wh theyre flying back from europe. Its called eu261, and it says passengers are entitled to up to 700 in cash when flights are delayed or canceled. Chris the amount varies based on how long a delay lasts, what caused it, and flight distance. You could get nothing, but using British Airways own website, we figured ba owed pams family of four 458 each, a total of 1832. After our inquiry, thats exactly what British Airways paid pam. Pam it was amazing. Chris its our pleasure. Pam it was amazing. You guys did an amazing job. Chris we asked British Airways why it didnt offer the otts their full compensation from the start. It didnt reply. The otts were unaware of their eu261 rights, and they are not alone. We sent our intern alex to sfo to ask people headed to europe male london. Male warsaw. Male birmingham. Male my home in ireland. Chris what they know about eu261. Male i havent heard of it before, no. Chris a recent passenger poll found just 8 were aware of their eu261 compensation rights. The poll was commissioned by airhelp. Com, which helps passengers file claims for a cut. Because so few travelers are aware of their rights, air helps johnny quach says millions of people arrive late, incur expenses, and leave money on the table. Johnny quach every single year, airlines are really, really not paying out even close to the amount of people that they should be paying out. Chris airlines inform you of your eu261 rights in the small type of your ticket contract, so the onus is on you to know the rules, then file a claim. If youre just now hearing about this, dont despair. Quach says you have three years after a flight to speak up. So, youre saying that if a delay or cancellation occurred as far back as 2016, people can still file . Johnny absolutely correct. Pam fabulous. Chris as for pam, shes eying the next ott family adventure, determined to forget that night at heathrow and remember her eu261 rights. Pam its a good policy. I just didnt know it existed. Chris now you do. Back to those companies that will fight for an airline with an airline for you. They do charge fees. In air helps case, it keeps 25 , but only if you win. You can file a claim yourself. Start with a letter to your airline making a specific reference to eu261 and the cash you deserve. Look it up on your airlines website. Policy is probably, hopefully posted there. Announcer still to come, it was a movie buffs dream come true. But changes have some film fans giving a big thumbs down. Why a bay area Attorney Says the movie ticket app should pay up. Eck with family and friends for recommendations, search for mechanics online, and check the Better Business bureau for ratings. Call the mechanic before you go. Ask if their estimates are free. Before you authorize repairs, make sure you receive a written estimate of the cost. If the mechanic cant return your car the same day you drop it off, ask for a written time of repairs estimate. If the mechanic wont give you everything in writing, walk away. Have a problem or a tip . Give us a call or submit online. We respond to every call and inquiry. Chris when it launched, moviepass promised almost unlimited access to movies in theaters for less than 10 a month. But many who bought in to moviepass say its not keeping up its end of the bargain. Fifteen nbc bay area viewers have complained to us about moviepass. Its website boasts it is uncapped, unrivaled, and unbelievable, but some users sait unusable, unusable, unusable. Catherine barry i enjoy going to the movies, its a good time escape. Chris Catherine Barry shelled out 90 for a moviepass subscription. Its supposed to let her watch one movie a day in select theaters for a year. Catherine gave it two thumbs up for about one month, but then showings stopped showing up in the moviepass app. Catherine its frustrating. I feel like ive been cheated. David silver no screenings at this theatre. Chris david silver demonstrated what happens when he opens his uncapped moviepass. David no, no movies available. Chris both david and catherine say they contacted moviepass looking for answers, but did not get a response. David i might as well start a fire and try and send Customer Service smoke signals. Theyre more likely to answer that than their phone or the email that i sent. Chris weve gotten nowhere with almost all the cases we brought to moviepass attention. Male its very, very frustrating. Chris San Francisco lawyer david rosenbergwohl has heard customer complaints too. So many that hes filed a federal lawsuit against moviepass. Hes framed the case as a National Class action. David rosenbergwohl this is moviepass. This is not come see an occasional movie when we say so and when we want to. Chris we contacted moviepass about the case. It directed us to its contract with members and told us they cant sue, neither individually nor as an ensemble. It said, the claims asserted in this action are covered by an arbitration provision and a class action waiver in the moviepass terms of use, which all of the plaintiffs were required to accept before they can begin using the moviepass service. It went on to say, because arbitration is a confidential process, it cannot comment further on the merits of the underlying disputes at this time. Rosenbergwohl says a jury should decide if moviepass is a bad actor and whether it actually delivered the uncapped, unrivaled, and unbelievable access that subscribers paid roughly 10 a month to get. David were not talking about great amounts of money on a monthly basis or even on an annual basis, but its the principle of the thing. Chris in a world of small type, this case could very easily hinge on the terms and conditions. So, ill say it again, before you sign up for anything, please read the contract from the beginning to the very end. Announcer coming up, when an nbc bay area viewer asked us to solve a mystery on his receipt, we learned about a California Law aimed at putting discarded mattresses to bed. With our famous pastrami and a bigger soft pretzel roll. And try the new turkey bistro with warm turkey and smokehouse bacon. Or the new hot club chicken dijon with dijon mayo and black forest ham. How far would you go for a togo . Ive been waiting my whole life for this. M consumer investigator chris chmura. We recently helped update travelers at San Jose International airport after a south bay man told us about a problem with a parking spot. Bill gibbons wrote us after taking a threeday trip from sjc. He says he budgete bill told us thats the price the airports telephone hotline quoted. But when he got to and then exited the sjc lot, he saw a sign posted for 30 and was charged 30. He said he filed a complaint about the discrepancy, then called us. We called the hotline and heard the recording say 22 a day at the same time the actual price is 30 a day. So, we contacted sjc administration. They told us the recording was outdated and didnt reflect a recent price increase. Next, they took action immediately. Sjc gave bill a full 90 refund within a few hours and corrected the recording that same day. Female for the most up to date parking rate information, please visit our website or ll chris yeah, or yo for live pricing. In a statement, thrpize for any inconvenience to mr. Gibbons. Thanks for bringing this to our attention. We also learned something new recently about a recently adopted state law. Thats after we got a note from peter in san leandro. He was puzzled after a recent visit to ikea. Peter wanted to know whats this 10. 50 recycling fee on his receipt. He said he asked ikea workers, but they didnt answer. Well, peter called us and we asked ikea corporate. It told us the fee is tacked onto all mattress sales in california. That money, wheres it go . Into a pool to pay for a new program that lets people rec