One Monday morning in May, I woke up and grabbed my cell phone to read the news and scroll through memes. But it was out of cell service. I couldn't make calls or texts.Using my home Wi-Fi connection, I checked my email and discovered a notification that $20,000 was being transferred from my credit card to an unfamiliar Discover Bank account.
Even if you're a relatively tech-savvy individual who follows every recommendation on how to protect your tech and identity, it can still happen to you. The FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center reports SIM-swapping complaints have increased more than 400% from 2018 to 2021, having received 1,611 SIM swapping complaints with personal losses of more than $68 million.
The ability of thieves to obtain your personal information was again made clear Friday when AT&T said the data of nearly all of its customers was downloaded to a third-party platform in a security breach two years ago. Although AT&T claims no personal information was leaked, cybersecurity experts have warned breaches involving telephone companies leave customers vulnerable to SIM swapping.
FCC rules have recently changed to force companies to do more to protect consumers from this type of scam. But if the FCC rules had been in place, my phone number might have been harder to steal, experts say. In that period of time the scammer was able to access my bank account three times and eventually successfully transferred $19,000 from my credit card— even though I removed my number from the bank account, froze my credit, changed all my passwords, among other measures.