How it works
Gathering information. Your name, date of birth, ID details, and recent payments. Much of this information comes from data breaches and public sources.
Contacting the carrier. The scammer pretends to be you and asks for a new SIM card: "the phone was lost" or "the card stopped working."
The number is transferred. The old card stops working, and the new one starts. You simply lose service and assume something has gone wrong.
Restoring access. Using the code from a message, they change the passwords to your email, bank account, and other services. It all takes minutes.
The third step is the main warning sign. A sudden loss of service for no apparent reason is not a minor glitch but a possible symptom; check your number's status with the carrier immediately, using another phone.
The second step explains how this is possible. The weak point is not the technology but the procedure: the employee follows instructions, and those instructions are designed for an honest person who has lost their phone.
What helps
- Ask your carrier to block SIM replacements without an in-person visit with ID
- Switch two-factor authentication from text messages to an authenticator app
- Do not use your phone number as the only way to recover access
- Keep a separate email for banking and do not use it anywhere else
- If you suddenly lose service, call your carrier immediately from another phone
The second step helps the most. A code generated in an app on the device itself does not travel over the network, so swapping the number is useless with this verification method.
The first step is worth doing once, in advance. Most carriers offer this service, and it is usually free, but you need to turn it on yourself: it is not enabled by default.
Protection against data breaches also deserves a mention. You cannot protect yourself completely - companies, not individuals, are where data leaks happen - but you can reduce the consequences: use different passwords and a separate email for financial accounts.
Finish reading in the Miqo app
1 more minute, then a quiz at the end. Find it under “Crime → Cybercrime”
Point your phone camera here to open the App Store or Google Play.
Sources
- SIM swapping relies on obtaining a duplicate number through the carrier's procedures and then intercepting one-time codes
- recommended protective measures include blocking replacements without an in-person request, using authenticator apps instead of text messages, and not relying on a phone number as the only way to recover access