You’ll know you’re a victim if your phone provider notifies you that your SIM card or phone number has been activated on another device. This likely means fraudsters have deactivated your SIM and are using your phone number. The first big sign that you could be a victim of SIM swapping is when your phone calls and text messages aren’t going through. “Here are three other signals you may be a victim of SIM swapping. This article from Norton entitled ' SIM swap fraud explained and how to help protect yourself' is a few years old, but still relevant: In case you’re wondering, no, this topic is not new, but it is a growing threat as more and more users start using two-factor authentication.

The bad actors need to trick your mobile phone company into believing that the request to swap SIM cards is coming from you. This technique defeats two-factor authentication by giving the cyber criminal access to your texts or phone calls. That offers them control over the phone number, meaning they can receive access to your bank account and your finances.' 'But some scammers can change the SIM card linked to your mobile number. 'Then your bank sends a code to your mobile device for you to continue the login process. This refers to when you start to access your account by typing in your user name and password. “You might attempt access to one of your bank accounts that uses text-based two-factor authentication. This article from privacypros.io does a nice job of explaining how the fraud works: One area that has been getting a lot more attention is SIM-swapping fraud.Ī SIM-swapping attack is also known as SIM splitting, SIMjacking, SIM hijacking and port-out scamming. I often get asked questions about growing cyber threats and how to keep online accounts safe - including cryptocurrencies. 'Europol said that 'sim swapping' can be done either by fooling the phone company with 'social engineering techniques' or by using a 'corrupt insider.' One more headline, from earlier this year, read ' Europe SIM swapping: 10 arrested in Europe over €82.4m scam to hijack celebrities' phones': “European police have arrested 10 people for allegedly hijacking mobile phones belonging to high-profile celebrities in the United States.

Prevent sim card hack