Sim swap gives fraudsters access to your mobile phone
There’s a new, little-known scam designed to empty your bank account, as one Vodafone customer found to her cost.
When Emma Franks’ mobile phone stopped working she assumed there was a technical problem and called her provider, Vodafone. To her surprise she was told that her sim card had been changed. She was promised the mistake would be reversed and that her service would resume within two hours. It was two days later that Vodafone realised that sim card changes can’t be reversed and gave her a new card. Service resumed for three days, then stopped. Franks discovered that for the second time her sim had been changed without her knowledge. The following day, £1,500 vanished from her bank account.
Franks had fallen victim to “sim swap fraud”, a new and little-reported scam which overrides the additional security introduced by banks to protect customer transactions. Fraudsters can complete cash transfers from a stranger’s account by accessing one-time pin codes and SMS notifications.