Trusting is good, but not trusting is better, even when you think you have everything under control. Directly from Maryland comes the news of a scam involving thousands of euros. This would have been successful even using the two-factor authentication set up by poor Sharon Hussey, scammed for $17,000.
The aforementioned security system, also more briefly called “2FA“, guarantees exceptional safety. In fact, users must type a code sent via SMS or email before being able to access, for example, their home banking application or many other platforms. However, there are ways that bad actors can get around this problem and one of these ways is through a technique called SIM swapping.
The SIM Swap scam that took $17,000 from an American woman
Sharon Hussey reportedly received a thank you email for purchasing a new phone with Verizon, a well-known American manager. Shortly thereafter, Bank of America notified the woman of some changes to your bank account contact information.
Sharon obviously did not purchase any phones from Verizon, nor did she change her bank account information. When she tried to call Bank of America to see what was going on, she couldn’t make the call: her phone was already dead. disconnected from any network service. This is precisely the first sign that makes you understand that you are at the center of a scam SIM Swap.
The deception occurs with the scammers who contact the manager convincing him that they own that SIM and must receive a duplicate.
In fact, the criminals had managed to virtually load his SIM onto their devices, thus receiving all the two-factor authentication codes. At that point Sharon tried to access the account from the computer, but she was unable to receive the verification code as she no longer had her phone number.
Unfortunately everything happened very quickly: although the woman managed to promptly contact the bank through other channels, $17,000 had already disappeared.