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Cyber Risks · Krebs on Security

Busting SIM Swappers and SIM Swap Myths

Summary: The REACT Task Force, a Santa Clara, Calif. law enforcement and prosecutor team, has made SIM swapping its highest priority, having helped arrest two Missouri men in their early 20s accused of stealing $14 million from a San Jose cryptocurrency company in late September 2018 and 20-year-old Joel Ortiz of Boston two months earlier. Detective Caleb Tuttle said he has yet to encounter a single case where a perpetrator presented ID in person at a store, describing three methods: bribing or blackmailing store employees, current or former employees abusing their access, and crooked employees tricking associates at other stores. A victim, BlockStar CEO Christian Ferri, lost roughly $100,000 in July 2018 after thieves abused access to T-Mobile's customer database to deactivate his SIM, reset his Gmail password, and reach a Google Drive document holding exchange credentials.

Bottom line: Sgt. Samy Tarazi said a few dozen individuals, mainly aged 19 to 22, are suspected of perpetrating most of these heists, and that a 99-cent SIM card from eBay plus a burner phone is enough to steal millions. T-Mobile has acknowledged unauthorized access to customer records in at least three separate incidents over six months, including one affecting roughly 2.5 million customers.

Read the original at Krebs on Security ↗

Topics
Cybercrime & Law Enforcement
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