The rise of SIM swapping scams

[Retro]

The scary thing about this one is that it doesn't require any direct interaction with the user, ie no social engineering. It's enough that the scammer gets enough personal data about you off social media that allows them to impersonate you to the phone company and transfer your identity from your SIM card to there one and from there drain your accounts and steal your full identity leading to huge headaches for you.

Also, this scam will actually get round text based two factor authentication, so it's really dangerous. To make matters worse, it's on the rise big time.

The best protection is not to overshare personal info on the open internet and to have a hardware or app based 2FA set up for every account. It's a pita, but you can see why it's becoming ever more important.

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And here's a bonus video from Naomi Brockwell explaining how to improve your privacy by not using a SIM card in your phone and also the downsides of doing so.

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[Retro]

@Geffers I think you'll be interested in this one.

 

[Mars]

Thanks for this article, shocking stuff; haven't watched the Naomi Brockwell video yet. I must say, our presence on social media is minimal, and certainly no banking or financials of any description on the mobile.

 

[Geffers]

Interesting video, wonder what safeguards the mobile operators use to confirm who they are speaking to is the actual owner of the sim.

I personally do not do any financial transactions on my mobile, they say it is secure but not so sure myself.

Geffers

 

[Mars]

...it is obviously not that secure, you do well to avoid any financial transaction on the mobile.