The FBI said the scam starts when someone contacts you by phone or email pretending to be a representative from your mobile phone carrier. Once the fraudster gets your personal information, they call your service provider and report a lost or stolen sim card.
According to the feds, the cybercriminals will tell the customer service representatives they “forgot their pin and need a new one”. The scammer will try to convince the phone provider to transfer the victim’s phone number over to a new sim card and device. In some cases, the FBI said mobile phone carrier employees have been tricked into giving up information.
The FBI said “sim swapping” cases skyrocketed in 2021 with consumers reporting $68 million in losses compared to just $12 million in losses in 2020, 2019 and 2018 combined. “That’s where you log onto a site and then you’re sent a code to a trusted device which normally goes to your phone,” Levin said. “So, the bad guys know this as well as the good guys. So, they want to get in on the action”.Avoid posting personal information like your phone number and address online.Don’t advertise information about financial assets and investments