In the era where mobile is everything for us, fraudsters made sure to target everything. Other than regular cyber-fraud tricks like phishing, vishing or smishing, SIM swap fraud is the modern trick used by fraudsters these days.
Though SIM swap fraud is not yet common in India, number of fraud reporting cases are rising. In June 2018, a woman from Kolkata who is a real estate agent by profession, lost around Rs 70,000 in SIM swap fraud. This woman received a call from the scammer who pretended to be her cell phone service provider. He offered her SIM upgrade, for which he asked her to share her Aadhaar number and 20-digit SIM card number. Within next 72 hours of she provided those details, she was duped for Rs 72,000!
Online banking frauds, more explicitly the SIM swap frauds, are massively increasing in India in recent past. The number of SIM swap fraud cases registered in Mumbai from January 2018 to April 2018, were 20,351.
But what exactly a SIM swap fraud is?
SIM swap fraud is a type of fraud in which the fraudster manages to obtain duplicate SIM card of your mobile number and thereby performs fraudulent transactions through your bank account. SIM swap is a second step of phishing and vishing scam.
How do they do it?
Protocol for the SIM swap is somewhat this way; a fraudster deceptively obtains your personal data and banking information by pretending to be your telecom service provider or your bank representative.
He then approaches to your telecom company and blocks your original SIM card by giving fake reasons like ‘your SIM card is lost or stolen’.
Meanwhile, when you try to figure out why you have lost your mobile network, fraudster visits the retail outlet of your network provider, deactivates your original SIM and gets a new SIM card issued in your name by fraudulently using your identity.
After that, all calls and text messages are diverted on the SIM held by fraudster. Using your banking information (which he has already obtained), he then generates OTP which is required to perform financial transactions and transfers all your money in his account.
The scariest part is, this entire scenario takes place in just few hours! Before you could even find out whether it was a genuine connectivity problem, because of which you lost your network or you were a target of smart cyber criminals, these fraudsters successfully drain your bank accounts!
How can you avoid falling prey to SIM swap fraud?
1. Do not provide any kind of personal or banking information to anyone. Keep in mind, that banks, financial institutions or telecom companies do not call their customers individually and ask for their sensitive information.
2. Do not reply to any text message or email asking to share your personal or financial details. Messages sent by banks or telecom companies are always system generated and are not required to be replied back. If you receive any such message, there are chances that it could be an attempt of phishing.
3. If you do not receive mobile network for a period, longer than usual, immediately contact your network operator to resolve the issue. Do not assume that there could be an ordinary technical problem for ‘no network’ phase.
4. Never display your mobile number on social media platforms, especially that number which is linked with your bank. Or for that matter do not reveal it if it is not required.
5. Regularly check your bank statements. Immediately inform your bank, in case of any suspicious activity in your online transactions.