Most people consider their Social Security number to be their most valuable personal data. Another threat is brewing that targets your mobile phone number — yes, the phone you use for 2-Factor Authentication and resetting your website passwords!
Here’s how it works:
- Criminal somehow acquires your mobile phone number then gathers some basic information about you
- Criminal calls your mobile carrier and impersonates you requesting them to reassign your mobile number to a different phone
- Criminal then uses this phone to change passwords on one or more of your valuable accounts
- Criminal then withdraws funds or commits other havoc with your accounts
Here are some tips to help prevent SIM-swapping:
- Begin keeping your mobile phone number a secret
- Immediately contact your mobile carrier (AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon are the major carriers) if your mobile phone unexpectedly stops working
- Each month watch your financial statements for irregularities
- Remove your mobile number from email signatures and online accounts
- Acquire a free Google Voice phone number to use instead, and configure it to forward to your mobile phone
Check out this article about SIM-swapping on Vice.com:
