In 2018, a group of hackers scammed digital currency investor Michael Terpin (CEO of Transform Group) incurring damages of around $23.8 million with data stolen from smartphones by SIM swaps. Luckily no major damages were done or influenced by this attack but it shone the light on the severity of such scams.Īnother often cited SIM swap attack occurred in the crypto arena. One of the most famous SIM swap scams happened in 2019 when a hacker used the technique to gain access to Twitter’s CEO Jack Dorsey account. With phone numbers in their hands, fraudsters can incur significant damages.
![sim card hack ligin sim card hack ligin](https://miro.medium.com/max/1200/1*idqvgx54LA0Y54sEH_kN3g.jpeg)
SIM swapping and SMS redirects are particularly impactful these days as many secured and valuable services rely on SMS one-time passwords (OTPs) or phone calls as a second-factor authentication (2FA).Īnd it is these secured services – online banking, utilities, saving accounts… – which are usually the end goal of the scammers. The only thing the victim can notice – is the lack of received SMS. This scenario is troubling as the user doesn’t have any idea that something is wrong with the SIM card – the SMSs get redirected without the user being aware at all. In this scenario the hacker abused a bulk SMS service for businesses, Sakari, to reroute the SMS to their number. Though, in mid-march 2021, a new type of SIM swap type of scam which relies on SMS forwarding and redirection was discovered. The only way the victim can know that something is awry is by seeing the phone being disconnected from the carrier and not receiving any phone calls, SMS, or data on the phone. Yes, from phone calls to SMS and OTPs (One Time Passwords) – with a successful SIM Swap – the fraudster has access to the victim’s most critical communication. This allows fraudsters to intercept all the communication that usually goes on the victim’s phones. Once the scam is done, the victims’ SIM card is disconnected and access to the phone number, incoming calls and SMSs are in the hands-on of the fraudsters. What happens when someone gets SIM Swapped? Interestingly, there are also cases where telecom employees were bribed by the fraudsters to transfer the phone numbers to fraudster’s SIM cards. It’s a standard feature and procedure, but it is abused a lot by fraudsters.
![sim card hack ligin sim card hack ligin](http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/sim_inside2.jpg)
Usually, this transfer (a.k.a porting) feature is used when a telecom customer lost their phone or simply switching the providers or services. At this point, the fraudster impersonates the victim and persuades the telecom provider to transfer the victim’s phone number to the fraudster’s SIM card. Once the fraudster has the relevant personal information, they’ll contact the victim’s telecom provider reporting a stolen or a lost phone.