SIM Swap Fraud: Know everything about it

Hyderabad: With the increase in the use of cashless transaction, the importance of SIM has increased enormously. Criminals try to gain access to the SIM in order to steal money from your bank account, mobile wallet etc.

In such a situation, knowing about this scam has become very important.

According to the report published in Gadgets Now, here is how scamsters commit fraud

  1. They call the victim and claim themselves as an executive from the mobile provider or any other authorized person. Their intention is to know the 20 digit SIM number. Every SIM card has this number.
  2. Once scamsters obtain this number, they will ask the victim to authenticate the SIM Swap process by pressing 1. Scamsters will try to convince the victim to authenticate the process. It may be noted that a mobile service provider will send confirmation SMS to the victim’s mobile number before accepting the request to swap the SIM.
  3. Once scamsters become successful in getting SIM number and convincing the victim to authenticate the process, they get access to the SIM. After the completion of the process, they will be able to access all OTPs sent by banks, mobile wallets etc. Thus, they can be able to steal the money.
  4. This fraud can also result in identity theft if scamsters know the victim’s Aadhaar Card number.

In order to be safe from this fraud, never share confidential/personal details like SIM number, OTP etc with anyone.

It may be noted that bank officials or employees of any mobile wallet will never ask OTP. Thus, even if anyone asks OTP, never share it.