Question about my friend's phone getting hacked after a public wifi login

My buddy Jake logged into a coffee shop's free wifi in Denver last Tuesday to check his bank account, and by Friday he had $400 in weird charges from some game he's never played. The before-and-after difference was insane, from normal browsing to a full account takeover in under 72 hours. What's the actual safest way to check important stuff on your phone when you're out?

3 comments

3 Comments

lunakim6d ago

Tell your friend to check if that coffee shop wifi was even real, because sometimes they set up fake ones with similar names. Had my email get weird after using airport wifi that looked official but wasn't. Now I just turn on my phone's hotspot for anything like banking, even if it eats up some data. Isn't it crazy how fast they can get into everything once they're in?

felixfisher10d ago

Denver on Tuesday and drained by Friday, that's way too fast for a normal hack. Public wifi is basically a free-for-all for anyone watching the traffic. I just use my phone's hotspot from my own data plan if I absolutely need to check my bank. It's slower but the connection is way more secure than some random coffee shop network.

adam_thompson5310d ago

Totally agree with @felixfisher, public wifi is sketchy as hell. Even a VPN can feel risky if you don't fully trust the provider. Phone hotspot is the only way to go for anything important.