If the attacker successfully obtains the victim’s banking credentials, they can change all the personal information on the victim’s banking site.
They can also receive two-step verification tokens for accounts where it is enabled.
It means that they can interfere with any password resets sent to you via call or text. Moving forward, now the attacker can intercept all of your text messages and phone calls. The customer service representative will shift the victim’s number to the hacker’s SIM card. If the hacker has done the job well, it will succeed. The question might be about a credit card’s last four digits, mother’s maiden name, or other personal information. If the attacker has knowledge of your personal details, it is easy for them to come prepared with the right answers. The rep will ask some security questions of the attacker. The wireless carrier representative tries to ensure that the calling person is the account holder. This is all accomplished through social engineering mojo. They can do this with both cell service providers and cable Internet connections at home. The hacker will typically impersonate their victim by saying they lost their phone or switched carriers and need to port over an existing number from one SIM card onto another. The infiltration of the wireless provider to change phone numbers is a time-consuming process that takes some convincing and sincerity. Now, the hacker has to fool the victim’s phone service provider’s customer representative to accomplish the SIM-swapping fraud. Conning the carrierĪs soon as the hacker has the victim’s credentials and additional information, it’s on to the next step. Once an attacker attains access, your accounts are at risk of being hacked and accessed without notice. The hacker may practice a social engineering approach to trick the victim into giving away their information, or they can steal it from a data breach that has already taken place. A person’s private information falls into one of these categories: Passwords and usernames, date of birth, last four digits in credit card numbers. The hacker will have to know many details about the victim before they can do any damage. There are two most common steps to perform a SIM-swapping scam. How attackers perform a SIM-swapping fraud We’ll provide some tips on averting SIM-swapping fraud further down. That also highlights the importance of using common sense as a defense against these types of attacks. Think twice before posting something on any social media account.īut what if someone is unable to get your data, email address, or credentials? It’s unlikely that they will be able to SIM swap you. The hacker always keeps an eye on the victim’s social media accounts to gain some helpful information.
The chances of a successful SIM-swapping fraud increase with the amount of information about the victim. They may also get it the old-fashioned way - spying on you as you use your phone. How did they get the personal information? They could have obtained it from data exposed in data breaches or the social networks where you publicly share your information.
If the attacker gets lucky enough with personal data, they don’t need to have physical control of the device. Then, the attacker uses this personal information to breach the victim’s account. Designed by Macrovector / Freepik The more, the merrierĪ hacker needs some of the would-be victim’s personal data to perform a SIM-swapping fraud.