Another PSA - Sim Card Hack January 20, 2020, 10:57:58 am Last Friday, a friend of mine was the victim of a "sim card hack". Her phone was not stolen or lost, but rather her phone number was stolen, and her phone was rendered useless. I searched and learned how serious this can be. I had never heard of this mischief before. Maybe others are aware of this, but if not, it's worth the time to learn a little more about this and how to protect your phone, and oneself from the trouble it can cause. Bill
Re: Another PSA - Sim Card Hack Reply #1 – January 20, 2020, 11:14:26 am Quote from: krmugn - January 20, 2020, 10:57:58 amLast Friday, a friend of mine was the victim of a "sim card hack". Her phone was not stolen or lost, but rather her phone number was stolen, and her phone was rendered useless. I searched and learned how serious this can be. I had never heard of this mischief before. Maybe others are aware of this, but if not, it's worth the time to learn a little more about this and how to protect your phone, and oneself from the trouble it can cause. BillA good article on how to try to protect yourself from a SIM card hack:How to Protect Your Phone Against a SIM Swap Attack | WIREDChris
Re: Another PSA - Sim Card Hack Reply #2 – January 20, 2020, 01:40:59 pm Hello to my LD friends,A recent Sim Swap story:At 5am in the early morning hours of December 26, 2019, I received several texts from Verizon about account changes and password changes to my account. The message left a number to call. Thinking that the number could be a bad link or spam, I looked online and verified that it was a Verizon number. I picked up my cell phone and called the number listed and reached a recording that Verizon support was closed and would reopen at 7am PST. I frantically looked online to find another number and was unsuccessful in locating other numbers that were monitored. Why would I get such a message from Verizon and be left with a number that was not monitored 24/7?My first thought was identity theft. I checked my bank accounts online and my monies appeared to be there. I checked my emails both personal and professional and found that I was no longer receiving my emails. I then called the Earthlink company and they could not help because I could not answer the security questions. I told them that I was a fresh victim of identity theft and that I had received a message from Verizon to call but found them to be closed until 7am PST. They tried to send me a code but I did not receive it. I told them to call my on my landline, they did but my landline did not ring. I picked up my landline and heard a dial tone. I called my landline with my cell phone and it did not ring. A man answered and I asked, "Whose is this?" He hung up without saying. I called back and got a voice message from a man claiming to be Tom Joyce. I didn't know anyone by that name. By this time I was frantic. The Earthlink Company would not work with me without authenticating me. I called Spectrum about my landline phone, same story, passwords had all been changed, I was denied access. In addition to my personal home landline, my dental business landlines had all be taken over by the criminals.Finally it was 7am PST, I called Verizon customer service. I tried to explain my situation, they didn't listen and asked me for my four digit pin to access my account. I told them my pin and they replied, as expected, "That isn't it!" I tried to explain that my identity had been taken over and somehow my phone number was no longer valid. They tried sending me a 6 digit pin, then called my landline even through my predictions that they wouldn't work. Nothing worked! I asked to speak to their fraud department, they refused and said that I would have to go into a Verizon Authorized Business Store with my ID at 10 am when they opened the day after Christmas. I opted to go to a Bank of America branch first at 10 am and tell them of my identity theft. They assured me everything was safe and had me change all my passwords and place a security word on my account. Then I went off to Verizon only to find 50-60 people there ahead of me. I tried to exert privilege being that I was an identity theft victim but was told to have a seat. After 1.5 hours, I still did not hear my name, so I asked how many more people were ahead of "Gary?" "We don't have a Gary on the list," was their response. "What?", I shouted! They asked my number and they responded that number belongs to Tom Joyce! Within 24 hours, $9,000 was wired from one of my Bank of America accounts even though they were forewarned the day of the identity theft! A lot transpired in the following three weeks, my monies were returned by Bank of America, I met Tom Joyce, and I had a 5 hour police interview 2 weeks after the theft. The detective that took my report told me that I was only one of his seventy cases that he has on his desk. It has been a total nightmare! I will tell everyone reading this, that I am 99% sure that this started as an inside job by Verizon employees and spread throughout a organized crime group of people. Local law enforcement is overwhelmed and we are all at risk along with our entire banking system. Disgruntled,Gary
Re: Another PSA - Sim Card Hack Reply #3 – January 20, 2020, 01:59:56 pm All I can say is WOW! So sorry this happened to you and hope it is fully resolved soon!After reading Chris' link I did go in to my phone account and verify I have a pin code as an extra layer of security. Hopefully that will slow them down a bit.
Re: Another PSA - Sim Card Hack Reply #4 – January 20, 2020, 02:15:03 pm Gary, thanks for the information. Very useful and I had not heard of something like this before.FYI, a lot of my accounts are now setting up a secondary verification. If you login, they send a text to a phone number (or something similar) and you have to tell them the code. Even Amazon is doing that now.I always opt for these and a phone password on my accounts. We use phone numbers for our accounts that are not our cell number - our cell is for friends/family, our other phone number is for businesses. They talk in the article Chris referred to about using a second number for account verification.I also ALWAYS say nope, I am on a public computer, do not say this one is ok - ask me verification questions each time. Laptops can be taken. Desktops can get access to them.I also erase cookies every time I close my browsers (set up that way) and use complicated passwords and false answers to security questions (people can find out your mothers maiden name, use a different one each place). Nothing can prevent a very good criminal, but at least we can thwart the other ones.
Re: Another PSA - Sim Card Hack Reply #5 – January 20, 2020, 02:43:49 pm Thanks all, but to clarify, I did have two factor authentication set up and did have a four digit pin set up with Verizon and my passwords were changed regularly and complicated. However, as Chris had stated initially, if the perpetrators start with internal phone carrier employees, we are all vulnerable! That is what happened to me. The real scary part is, if I were away from my phone, out on a fishing boat, or out of the country on a vacation, I would have been financially wiped out. In as little as three days, all my accounts would have been drained. When someone has access to your phone number, then they can easily get the codes that the banks, email companies, phone companies and others send for verification. Believe me when I say, it is a simple task to change your account information once they have your phone number. Most companies allow for resetting your account information by validating through your cell phone. I even had emails set up as an alternative method of verification on some accounts, but as I said earlier, the perpetrators had control of my emails so they were able to authenticate themselves through emails. Every call I made to other banking institutions, credit unions trying to gain access generated 6 digit pins to the phone number the perpetrators had in their possession. I was unknowingly helping them locate other obscure accounts that I had that they didn't know about. It didn't take long for them to get my social security number once they gained access to my accounts.Our banking institutions need a better way to authenticate our identity like pupil/iris identifiers. Phones, as they are today, are not a good way. I was so frustrated and stressed as all this was coming down on me. My wife and I were to leave that day on a five day prepaid vacation that obviously was declined. There was no refund or understanding on their part either. At the time, it was the least of my worries. As I was trying to convince Verizon and the banks as to my identity, I thought of an idea. I asked them, "Surely you are in front of a computer?' "Yes, of course," was the response. I suggested, "Go to Arcadia CA Dentist | Gary B. Jacobsen, DDS | General Dentistry and open up the home page and you will see a picture of the doctor. That is me, the only doctor. We can then facetime and you can see it is me!" With each company I tried, their response was the same. "That is not within our protocols for identification, I am very sorry."Gary
Re: Another PSA - Sim Card Hack Reply #6 – January 20, 2020, 02:52:14 pm Three times Verizon has screwed up my account, the last time a couple of months ago. Customer support was useless. I got fast action from Verizon by filing an FCC complaint. Suddenly Verizon was very helpful, and quickly solved my problem. The FCC forms are on-line. It's worth a shot.--Al in Scappoose--2002 26.5 MB 4 Likes
Re: Another PSA - Sim Card Hack Reply #7 – January 20, 2020, 05:04:39 pm Al,Thanks, I just filed a complaint with the FCC!Gary
Re: Another PSA - Sim Card Hack Reply #8 – January 20, 2020, 11:35:58 pm FCC is a great place to file - though it doesn't work to get all companies to respond.Filing a complaint with your local state government - Attorney General I think is also a good way. The company has to at least respond with a letter, though the letter can just say this is our policy.., but you can respond and keep it going and keep pushing the issue. 1 Likes
Re: Another PSA - Sim Card Hack Reply #9 – January 21, 2020, 11:43:50 am Jane and Scott,I looked online for the California Attorney General's Office of Jackie Lacy. If you research through their website regarding telecommunication company complaints you are referred back to the FCC, their governing body.Best,Gary
Re: Another PSA - Sim Card Hack Reply #10 – January 21, 2020, 03:18:59 pm Jake, that must be CA specific. Not that way in AZ.FTC - Federal Trade Commission, that was the place I really meant to suggest. They track and if there is a lot of problems they get involved.If I were you, I might try calling/writing the Attorney General anyway and have a 15-30 second spiel ready to catch their attention. They might care for something of this nature, especially since CA seems to lead way for privacy.Government officials like Senators can get results, I read a news report that one government official made things so uncomfortable for Amazon, that Amazon raised their lowest pay for workers up (or at least I read that in a news report).I read there is a movement by government to stop phone spam - requiring carriers to confirm that the call is coming from where the caller ID says it is coming from, which would be nice.It would be nice if they squashed your issue also.Jane
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