A complex form of mobile phone fraud you should know about

One of the most popular types of crime is fraud with smartphones. Smartphones store a lot of personal information, from photos to money. Only attentiveness and sanity of citizens can help to prevent fraud. Anybody can become a victim of fraudsters: businessmen, public officials, show business stars and ordinary citizens.

This type of fraud has recently seen a new stage of development. Malefactors often use SIM replacement to steal from cryptocurrency companies, or some SIM-switches break into social networks with short and beautiful nicknames. OG accounts usually can be resold for thousands of dollars.

As a rule, thieves abuse access to the customer database in order to deactivate the SIM card in their phone and activate another one that they have on their mobile device. This feature gives you the right to reset the password to your Gmail account.

Many scammers involved in the exchange of SIM-cards tend to hold the view that they steal from fabulously wealthy people who will not be upset if they lose some of their crypto-active assets.

What should be done to detect and prevent the exchange of SIM-cards?

• Create your Google accounts to use app-based two-factor authentication instead of relying only on your mobile phone. It is important to use something different than text messages for two-factor authentication on your email accounts, when more powerful authentication options are available.
• Store most of your cryptographic funds in hardware wallets and keep secret keys. It is also a good idea to print and correctly pin a set of disposable codes that can be used if the mobile device is lost or stolen.

In the United States, a special expert group has been created that pursues fraudsters involved in the exchange of SIM cards. If you are a victim of fraudsters, our project experts will quickly help you.