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Social media’s role in SIM swap fraud
Scammers can use your social media profiles to gather information on you that may help them impersonate you when they’re trying to close a SIM swap scam.
Say your mother’s maiden name or your high school mascot are answers to your security questions. A fraudster might be able to discover that information within your Facebook profile.
But there is some good news here: Social media also can alert you to being victimized.
Consider the high-profile example of a SIM swap scam against Twitter CEO Alex Dorsey. Dorsey’s Twitter account was hacked when fraudsters gained control over his phone number. The scammers behind this went on to tweet offensive messages from Dorsey’s Twitter handle for the 15 minutes it took to regain control of his account.
How did the hackers get access to Dorsey’s phone number? They somehow convinced Dorsey’s phone carrier to essentially swap SIM cards, assigning Dorsey’s phone number to their SIM card and phone. They then used Cloudhopper’s text-to-tweet service to send their messages through Twitter.
Scammers can use your social media profiles to gather information on you that may help them impersonate you when they’re trying to close a SIM swap scam.
Say your mother’s maiden name or your high school mascot are answers to your security questions. A fraudster might be able to discover that information within your Facebook profile.
But there is some good news here: Social media also can alert you to being victimized.
Consider the high-profile example of a SIM swap scam against Twitter CEO Alex Dorsey. Dorsey’s Twitter account was hacked when fraudsters gained control over his phone number. The scammers behind this went on to tweet offensive messages from Dorsey’s Twitter handle for the 15 minutes it took to regain control of his account.
How did the hackers get access to Dorsey’s phone number? They somehow convinced Dorsey’s phone carrier to essentially swap SIM cards, assigning Dorsey’s phone number to their SIM card and phone. They then used Cloudhopper’s text-to-tweet service to send their messages through Twitter.