These SIM Swap scams....how worried should we be??

Sea_Shell

I wonder what the fraudsters starting point is...

Is it a list of phone numbers?
Or a list of bank accounts?
Or responses to phishing emails/texts?

They must then need to drill down into that data /personal information to pursue the fraud, singling out people as they go.

masonic

Sea_Shell wrote: »

Is it a list of phone numbers?
Or a list of bank accounts?
Or responses to phishing emails/texts?

Some information about the bank account would surely be needed as a start point. Everything else could probably be figured out from publicly available information for a large enough proportion of people. If a customer also held a credit card with the same bank, then the credit card number could potentially be used in place of the bank details and might be stored on many more companies' databases.

Wellard_Mann

masonic wrote: »

Yes, probably. Which is probably related to the good point made by eDicky here that most SIM swap fraud doesn't involve a PAC and relies on the fraudster convincing the provider that a replacement SIM is required for continued service under the same account - i.e. SIM is lost/damaged/needed for a new handset.

Indeed. I recently requested a PAC code over the phone. I had to give the network provider three characters from my password and confirm my address. The text arrived within a couple of minutes of getting the code.

Prior to this, I had requested a new SIM card. (The issue being that I was having connectivity problems and the provider was adamant I had a defective SIM. I didn't think so but went with the flow and tried the replacement before porting to a new provider as above). Again, I went through the password and address verification and the replacement card was sent to my home address.

I guess they could tighten up on this by only issuing replacement cards in store against appropriate ID but that would be massively inconvenient for a lot of people as stores can be few and far between depending where you live.

Sea_Shell

I guess it's like being chased by a bear.... just don't be the slowest runner.

Emily_Joy

Sea_Shell wrote: »

I wonder what the fraudsters starting point is...

Is it a list of phone numbers?
Or a list of bank accounts?
Or responses to phishing emails/texts?

They must then need to drill down into that data /personal information to pursue the fraud, singling out people as they go.

I am suspecting an online retailer database. They like to ask for your date of birth to send vouchers/freebies, they of course have phone number, address, billing address and full name. They also like to save card details for your convenience. Based on the amount of total transactions fraudsters can also guess the account balance and work out from there...

Yorkshire_Pud

Sea_Shell wrote: »

I wonder what the fraudsters starting point is...

Is it a list of phone numbers?
Or a list of bank accounts?
Or responses to phishing emails/texts?

They must then need to drill down into that data /personal information to pursue the fraud, singling out people as they go.

If you leave your front door and windows open you are more likely to get robbed.

Its easy to feel there's so much fraud going on with TSB then you must be next.

Reality is exploitation of a situation by crooks and opportunist complicity by people who want some free cash whoever they may be;)

Tara_M

Don't do online banking.... simples.

pafpcg

Tara_M wrote: »

Don't do online banking.... simples.

Sorry, that's not 100% effective.....

Don't do banking is the only guarantee, since very few bank accounts are not accessible online. And if you don't register your accounts for online access (securing them with passwords & codes known only to you) then you've left your accounts open to others to register by impersonating you.

Browntoa

masonic wrote: »

They're already here. Natwest, Nationwide and probably others use them. The difference is they are only needed to make payments to new recipients, which seems like a balanced approach.

M&S Bank requires you to use a device just to log in, which I think is a little excessive, especially as FD and HSBC give you restricted access to your account without it.

M&S banking app allows login without the device , allows payment to existing set up payee's via the app but requires full log on and the device to set up new one's

masonic

Browntoa wrote: »

M&S banking app allows login without the device , allows payment to existing set up payee's via the app but requires full log on and the device to set up new one's

Thanks, I've only ever logged in via web browser, I'd never have guessed the app would ask for characters from your password instead of using the device!