CEO of Poltavska Khvylya and Sil Media, Vitaliy Ulybin, purchased a digital SIM card from Kyivstar for his work phone, which contained the personal data of the previous owner. The mobile operator explained why such cases occur.
CEO of Poltavska Khvylya and Sil Media, Vitaliy Ulybin, purchased a digital SIM card from Kyivstar for his work phone, which contained the personal data of the previous owner. The mobile operator explained why such cases occur.
«I download all the apps and messengers I need for work and log in — everything is fine, until it’s Telegram’s turn (yes, yes, yes — throw slippers, but we still need it for work). But instead of starting to set up my profile, I realize that my name is now Anyuta, I actively follow publics about „esveo“, save recipes for hake in tomatoes and spam people with postcards from Viber,» Vitaliy Ulybin wrote on Facebook.
According to the journalist, the eSIM contained Telegram data of a Donetsk resident named Anyuta, namely: personal correspondence with children, relatives, and «spiritual brothers», login, contacts, etc.
«The moral side in this case worries me little. I confess: I sent „Glory to Ukraine“ to all the chats about the SVO! What worries me is that in this way, the private life of not only Anyuta, but also anyone else, can accidentally end up with anyone. With correspondence, photos, pious or not, and a list of contacts. And this is not very OK,» added Vitaliy.
The journalist chose to purchase a digital card for UAH 700 to avoid wasting time in stores with queues. But when he contacted Kyivstar with the problem, he was advised to replace the eSIM in a physical store.
«If you created a contactless service, why can’t you also fix the fake call without contact. Give me my money back, for example, deactivate the number so that I can buy a new one. Why can’t the operator resolve this issue manually by phone — she has different access to the system than the sellers in the store?» Vitaliy asked.
In a comment to the post, the company explained: «Numbers have an expiration date, when it expires — the number is canceled and can later be sold. This happens because the number capacity is not infinite, and the previous owner did not deactivate the messenger account.»
