In 'SIM swap', criminals really have your number, says expert

This scam, also known as port-out or SIM splitting fraud, allows criminals to hijack your cell phone number. Once they have your number, the bad guys can clean out your financial accounts, confiscate your email, delete your data and take over your social media profiles.

"I'd rather they took my social, to tell you the truth," Litan says,"because I care about my retirement money and I know some of it's protected through phone number access." They pretend they want to change carriers or say they need a new SIM card, the module that identifies a phone's owner and allows it to connect to a network. Once they persuade the carrier to transfer your number to a phone they control, they can attack your other accounts.

Phone companies protest they're doing all they can, and solutions that would make this theft harder also would inconvenience people who legitimately want to switch carriers or need their numbers transferred to new SIM cards because their phones have been lost or stolen.

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