In the midst of so many types of cyberattacks that exist, there is one that is rarely talked about: it is SIM swapping. In this type of fraud, scammers use social engineering (stealing users’ private information) to pose as legitimate customers to customer service representatives of telephone companies to obtain a new SIM card with the users’ telephone line.
The computer security company Eset explained that when criminals take over the phone line they use important information from the victims such as email address, identity documents, among other data.
What do they do it for? for srequest a new password that allows them to access bank accounts and other online servicesand receive on your line the one-time verification code that arrives via SMS.
“The first sign that victims of SIM swapping identify is the loss of network signal on their computers. This is because once the criminals activate the new SIM card in a new device, the line is automatically deactivated”, explained Camilo Gutiérrez Amaya, a researcher at Eset Latin America.
Jake Moore, an Eset specialist, handed out some recommendations to avoid being a victim of this type of fraud and protect accounts:
– Do not use as a PIN code or verification code a date or a number that someone can associate with you.
– Try as much as possible to avoid two-step authentication via SMS and instead use options such as an authentication app or a physical security key.
Although this form of fraud is not new, complaints from victims of SIM swapping have increased in the last year. During 2021 in the United States, 1,611 complaints were received from victims who said they had suffered money theft as a result of the hijacking of their telephone lines and the losses reached a figure close to 68 million dollars.