Thieves are motivated to find ways to steal your phone number – with SIM swap scams. What is a SIM swap scam? It is when a scammer takes control of someone else’s number without that person’s permission. They don’t have to physically have your phone to swap the SIM and take control of your number.
What You Should Know About SIM Swap Scams
Thieves often target a person with valuable online accounts. These could include a financial account with a lot of money or a social media account with a large following.
If you become a target, a thief gathers information about you like email, home address and phone numbers. They may try to trick you into revealing information about yourself through phishing or social engineering. But they often get the information with a few simple internet searches or from social media. Please note that Cricket will never call you to ask for your PIN or ask for your PIN via text.
Once the bad actor has the information, they may call your phone carrier, pretending to be you, and attempt a “SIM swap.” This person could use the information to convince your mobile service provider to replace the SIM card in your phone with one in their possession. If successful, the mobile network will start sending calls and texts to the new SIM card – which is really the bad actor’s phone.
This will deactivate your phone, and the bad actor will start getting your calls and texts on their device, including authentication texts, one-time PINs or phone responses. The thief may then use this functionality to gain access to your financial or social media accounts.
How Cricket is Helping
These bad actors are constantly changing their tactics. Cricket is dedicated to continuously look for ways to enhance safety measures, such as:
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Building tools to make it harder for someone to pretend to be you.
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Training employees and educating customers to recognize impersonation attempts better
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Expanding fraud detection and support by enhancing authentication methods prior to specific transactions. Implementing notifications for specific transactions that will alert you to potentially fraudulent activity
Report fraudulent activity, like unauthorized SIM Swaps and Port-outs, by calling Cricket Care at 1-800-CRICKET (1-800-274-2538)
What You Can Do
These scams could happen to anyone. Here are a few tips to help avoid having your number taken over:
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Turn on Account Lock via the myCricket app. This will prevent SIM Swaps and port-outs from occurring while the feature is on.
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Don't share personal information online. Don't post, or at least carefully limit, information on social media that a thief could use to gain access to your accounts or convince someone they are you. This includes legal names, birth dates, and information that could be an answer to a security question, such as a pet's name, your best friend, or high school mascot.
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Keep your personal email inbox clean. Delete phone bills, bank statements, and other emails that may include personal information. Don't store passwords, passcodes, or pins in unencrypted or unsecured email accounts. This will help reduce the risk of your sensitive information falling into the wrong hands.
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Change your account PIN and online password on a regular basis and don’t share it with other users.
If you believe your SIM card has been swapped without your consent, contact Customer Support at 1-800-CRICKET (1-800-274-2538).
Review our Fraud Protection page for more information about how you can protect yourself online.
