Written by Jenine Abudiab. Edited by Ayesha Nadeem.
Scammers are getting more advanced by the day. Everyday, people are becoming victims to the SIM swap. Scammers are very smart at these methods. All they need to do to steal your phone are things like your name, physical address, email address, and mobile phone number. Unfortunately, a lot of that information is available on the internet.
The way they do this is they may call your wireless provider and can pretend to be you. So they can transfer your phone number to a new SIM card and another device. The SIM card is the very small memory card that you put in your mobile phone. It has all your information and account, including your phone number. Once the thieves get all of this information it successfully transfers the phone number to another new device. The victim's phone goes blank and the thief has access to your sensitive information.
There are many ways to protect yourself from scammers. One way is to establish a pin that is required on the account for access. You can also download the mobile provider’s app that can help you with staying up to date on security updates and alerts. If you ever stop receiving any calls or texts you should contact your wireless provider as soon as you can. Even if you don’t use your phone that much, you should check your phone regularly for your provider and any account alerts. You should limit sharing your phone number in a situation where it might be distributed and widely posted. Lastly, keep your personal information and social media to yourself (no matter how insignificant it is). Beware of pretexting attempts.
Citation:
Huffman, M., & Huffman, M. (2022, October 18). A scary new scam can steal your phone without thieves even touching it. ConsumerAffairs. Retrieved October 21, 2022, from https://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/a-scary-new-scam-can-steal-your-phone-without-thieves-even-touching-it-101822.html