I & # 39; SIM Swap & # 39; have criminals really your number
If you are unfamiliar with the SIM swap scam, prepare to be saved.
This scam, also known as port-out or SIM-splitting scams, allows criminals to hijack your cell phone number. Once they get your number, the crooks can clear out your financial accounts, confiscate your email, delete your data and take over social media profiles.
Scammers can do all this because many companies – including banks, brokers, email providers and social media platforms – verify your identity by sending a code to your mobile phone. Cutting off these codes can give a criminal a password with full access to your financial and digital life.
This type of identifying scam has been around for many years, but it is gaining more attention following a wave of cryptocurrency thefts and attacks on high-profile victims, including Twitter CEO Jack Dors ey, who briefly lost control of his Twitter account. account.
THIS IS BROKEN THE EXPERTS FREAKST
the company Gartner Inc., fears losing its phone number far more than having provided its social security number.
"I'd rather they took my social, to tell you the truth," says Litan, "because I care about my pension money and I know some of it is protected through access to phone numbers."
Also, you can't prevent this scam – only your carrier can. And right now, criminals seem to be simply deceiving the telephone companies.
Sometimes the fraudsters bribe employees or blackmail employees; sometimes the employees are criminals. Other times, scammers use identifying data they have stolen, purchased on the dark web or retrieved from social media to convince carriers that they are you. They pretend they want to change carrier or say they need a new SIM card, the module that identifies a phone's owner and lets it connect to a network. When they persuade the carrier to transfer your number to a phone they check, they can attack your other accounts.
Even getting the cell phone holder to recognize what's happening and helping you stop it can be a challenge, says security expert Bob Sullivan, host of the "So, Bob" technology podcast. Victims report being forced to educate telephone company employees about the scams and getting the number stolen more than once, even after protection was supposedly in place.
"The real problem is when you call, you get a person who you can talk to quickly and they recognize what's going on?" Sullivan asks. "Or will you be in answering machine hell for three hours while one criminal is attacking all your accounts? "
Telephone companies protest that they are doing everything they can, and solutions that will make this theft more difficult would also bother those who legitimately want to change carrier or need their number transferred to new SIM cards because the phones they have been lost or stolen.
Although you cannot prevent this scam if you have a cell phone, you may be able to reduce the chance of being victimized or at least limiting the damage.
CHANGE HOW TO IDENTIFY IF YOU CAN
First ask your telephone company to put a personal identification number on your account. Hopefully, the carrier will require it to be produced before your telephone number " is sent out "to a new carrier or assigned to another SIM card.
Then check to see if you can switch to more secure authentication on your sensitive accounts. Being tagged with a code is better than nothing, since this "two-factor" authentication is harder to beat than just using a password. Better options would be to get the codes through a call to a landline or by using an authentication app such as Authy, Google Authenticator or Duo Security on your smartphone.
CONTINUE THE WORST
If your phone stops working or you can't send or receive texts, don't assume it's wrong. Call another method or visit your carrier immediately to report a phone takeover scam. Sullivan recommends knowing some alternative ways to contact your carrier, such as Wi-Fi calling, Skype, or an easily accessible backup phone.
If you become a victim, you should:
– Notify your financial institutions.
19659002] – Change the email address and password associated with all your financial and payment accounts.
– Freeze your credit reports.
– Identity theft reports with your local police department.
The important thing is to go fast, because the villains will not wait.
"You have a plan because minutes are going to play something," Sullivan says.
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This column was provided to the Associated Press by personal finance website NerdWallet. Liz Weston is a columnist at NerdWallet, a certified financial planner and author of “Your Credit Score.” Email: lweston@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @lizweston.
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