How your phone number can unlock your identity online

In our increasingly connected world, your phone number can define you and sharing those digits with companies and websites you trust can be just as dangerous as sharing them with a random stranger. 

“You enter that number on different websites…. People get that information, companies can mine that information and even sell that,” said Duarte Pereira, a security expert for FitechGelb.

A recent article in the New York Times showed how some companies have turned their customer’s personal data into potential profit using nothing more than a phone number.

Using just your phone number, companies or scammers can find your name, birth date, address and more. 

"Once your number is out there, it's almost impossible to get out," Pereira said.