Ask HN: SIM swap attack on a friend's grandmother. Is this common? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: SIM swap attack on a friend's grandmother. Is this common?

7 pointssgammon8 comments

My friend's grandmother suffered a SIM swapping attack on her Verizon phone very recently. Her phone was apparently hijacked by unknown attackers (probably overseas), and used to pass 2FA steps.

I've heard of this happening at T-Mobile recently, how common are these attacks becoming? Has anyone else seen or suffered one?

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> probably overseas

Do you know if they managed somehow to get an e-sim? Otherwise the "overseas" is a tad difficult as it would require physical presence to collect the SIM card from a brick and mortar store.

Are there controls/options that you can arrange with your provider to ONLY hand a SIM card only with physical presence and ID check?

Over in EU you need to show up with a valid ID to get a SIM. Unless the employee of the store is 'in on it' and will hand your SIM to an accomplice.

I'm not sure, I just know the attacker had complete control over her phone. Verizon needed physical access to the device to cycle it (physical or eSIM, I'm not sure). I'm happy to ask his family for more info.

"Over in EU you need to show up with a valid ID to get a SIM."

This is definitely not true for all EU countries.

Yeah, also rogue phone shops are a weak link in the chain and often get bribed to clone SIM cards.

EU banking laws recommend against phone numbers as 2FA, but most banks fail to comply.

Code cards and card readers were a much better 2FA. Phone numbers are a step backwards.

I've traveled to quite a few, and I'm always asked for passport (even if it's for a pay-as-you-go) while being there even for as little as for a couple of days.

I'm a white male, so it's not racism. Perhaps they skip the ID check on some cases, but don't they need a copy for documentation/first issuance?

Try searching for SIM card on olx or ebay

SIM swap on a random grandmother? No, not very common.

SIM swap attacks are usually targeted (high value targets, e.g. crypto people)

Unfortunately, it’s a very common attack.

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