It's no secret that someone can know everything about you just by looking at your phone.
Now, hackers are trying to take advantage of that fact.
They can steal your personal information using just your cell number.
“Everyone is so connected to their phone. With all the apps that you have and everything with mobile banking, Facebook, all that,” Sarah Quinn said.
Our connection to out phone have made us more vulnerable.
“My brother just got hacked. So it could have been through his phone or something like that,” Quinn said.
A recent study showed that last year more than 160,000 people had their personal information stolen by hackers using just their cellphone numbers.
“Every bit of information that we give out is just another way for someone to get in so we have to be careful, but we have to give information,”retired FBI Agent Michael Tabman said.
He said there are ways to protect yourself besides just frequently changing passwords when you have to give out your information.
“There are other options like using a phantom phone number. Some are free. Some you can buy where it will forward calls to your actual phone," Tabman said.
Apps such as Google Voice can serve as a middle man. They create a phantom number, protecting the real one.
Another way to protect yourself is to avoid using apps that act as wallets.
“Literally has all the info for your credit cards, banking, everything so I try to keep that on the paper side,” said Elyse Zauchenberger.
