Also, next year Belgian prepaid customers can take unused credit with them
Telecommunications Minister Petra De Sutter agreed with telecom operators to step up the fight against – smishing – fraud via SMS, according to the Brussels Times.
The Minister said the government would contribute €2 million from the European recovery plan to help Telenet and Proximus in their efforts to combat this fraud as the Christmas season looms along with an expected rise in smishing, according to the IMEC research centre.
The Minister wants the operators to develop software to combat fraudulent SMS that is active within a year.
“Last year, the FLUBOT virus caused thousands of victims. Users mechanically clicked on a link sent to them via SMS, which allowed an application to intercept their access codes to mobile banking services,” she said.
Take your credit with you
Last week there was more good news for Belgian mobile users. The Belgian Times reported that from next year, the country’s almost 2 million prepay customers who rely on top-ups will be able to switch operator without losing unused credit.
“A lot of people use prepaid cards and they lose their remaining credit when they change operator. I find this absurd: you paid a certain amount, so in the event of a change of operator, you should be able to keep it. From 2023, customers will keep their call credit,” De Sutter said.
This money will not be automatically moved to the balance of the new phone provider. Instead, “holders of a prepaid card can ask their former telecom operator to reimburse the remaining amount.”
The refund will typically be refunded to customers’ bank accounts within four weeks. To receive it the customer must have already taken the steps to open a new prepaid account with their new operator and transfer their existing number.
Phone providers will still be allowed to charge customers €5 for switching to a new operator.