The Federal Bureau of Investigation is issuing this announcement to inform mobile carriers and the public of the increasing use of Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) swapping by criminals to steal money from fiat and virtual currency accounts. From January 2018 to December 2020, the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received 320 complaints related to SIM swapping incidents with adjusted losses of approximately $12 million. In 2021, IC3 received 1,611 SIM swapping complaints with adjusted losses of more than $68 million.
HOW A SIM SWAP SCHEME WORKS
SIM swapping is a malicious technique where criminal actors target mobile carriers to gain access to victims’ bank accounts, virtual currency accounts, and other sensitive information. Criminal actors primarily conduct SIM swap schemes using social engineering, insider threat, or phishing techniques. Social engineering involves a criminal actor impersonating a victim and tricking the mobile carrier into switching the victim’s mobile number to a SIM card in the criminal’s possession.
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Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation