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A SIM swap scam happens when criminals take over control of your phone by tricking your carrier to connect your phone number to a SIM card in their possession. These scammers basically take over control of your mobile phone’s number.
To steal your number, scammers start by gathering as much personal information on you as they can find and then engaging in social engineering.
First, the scammers call your mobile carrier, impersonating you and claiming to have lost or damaged their — really your — SIM card. They then ask the customer service representative to activate a new SIM card in the fraudster’s possession. This ports your telephone number to the criminal’s device, which contains the scammers own SIM card. Once your carrier completes this request, all phone calls and texts that are supposed to go to you will instead go to the scammers device.
How are fraudsters able to answer the security questions your mobile carrier asks? How can they provide any personal information your smartphone provider’s customer-service rep asks when trying to determine if it’s you on the other end of the phone?
That’s where the data scammers have collected on you through phishing emails, malware, or social media research becomes useful.
Scammers might send you an email claiming to be from your smartphone provider. This email might say that you need to click on a link to keep your account open. When you do, you’re taken to a new page that asks you to provide personal information, including your name, birthdate, and passwords. Maybe the page even asks for your Social Security number. Once you fill this out and click “Send,” you’ve given the scammers access to the information they need to trick your mobile phone carrier into a SIM swap scam.
Other scammers trick you into clicking on email links that fill your computer with malware that records your keystrokes, including any passwords or security question answers you type. Again, this provides the fraudsters with the information they need to pull of a successful SIM swap.
Fraudsters might also buy your personal and financial information on the dark web. This, too, would arm these con artists with the information they need to successfully work their scam.
Once scammers provide your smartphone providers with the information they gotten from you or the dark web, they use it to convince your provider to switch your number to a new SIM card.
These criminals then gain access to and control over your cellphone number, something that fraudsters can use to access your phone communications with banks and other organizations, in particular, your text messages. They can then receive any codes or password resets sent to that phone via call or text for any of your accounts. And that’s it: They’re in.
How do they get your money? They might set up a second bank account in your name at your bank, where, because you’re already a customer, there might be less robust security checks. Transfers between those accounts in your name might not sound any alarms.
To steal your number, scammers start by gathering as much personal information on you as they can find and then engaging in social engineering.
First, the scammers call your mobile carrier, impersonating you and claiming to have lost or damaged their — really your — SIM card. They then ask the customer service representative to activate a new SIM card in the fraudster’s possession. This ports your telephone number to the criminal’s device, which contains the scammers own SIM card. Once your carrier completes this request, all phone calls and texts that are supposed to go to you will instead go to the scammers device.
How are fraudsters able to answer the security questions your mobile carrier asks? How can they provide any personal information your smartphone provider’s customer-service rep asks when trying to determine if it’s you on the other end of the phone?
That’s where the data scammers have collected on you through phishing emails, malware, or social media research becomes useful.
Scammers might send you an email claiming to be from your smartphone provider. This email might say that you need to click on a link to keep your account open. When you do, you’re taken to a new page that asks you to provide personal information, including your name, birthdate, and passwords. Maybe the page even asks for your Social Security number. Once you fill this out and click “Send,” you’ve given the scammers access to the information they need to trick your mobile phone carrier into a SIM swap scam.
Other scammers trick you into clicking on email links that fill your computer with malware that records your keystrokes, including any passwords or security question answers you type. Again, this provides the fraudsters with the information they need to pull of a successful SIM swap.
Fraudsters might also buy your personal and financial information on the dark web. This, too, would arm these con artists with the information they need to successfully work their scam.
Once scammers provide your smartphone providers with the information they gotten from you or the dark web, they use it to convince your provider to switch your number to a new SIM card.
These criminals then gain access to and control over your cellphone number, something that fraudsters can use to access your phone communications with banks and other organizations, in particular, your text messages. They can then receive any codes or password resets sent to that phone via call or text for any of your accounts. And that’s it: They’re in.
How do they get your money? They might set up a second bank account in your name at your bank, where, because you’re already a customer, there might be less robust security checks. Transfers between those accounts in your name might not sound any alarms.