Scammers are finding new ways to access people’s personal data, like social media, email and digital payment methods. But there are ways to prevent this.
SIM swapping is a form of identity theft where scammers steal identities, then call mobile providers pretending to be the owner of a phone. They then gain access to an owner’s phone and initiate a series of password resets.
Brooke Brennan is the public affairs officer for the Phoenix division of the FBI.
"These criminals just call, claim to be you, say they need a new SIM card, get the SIM card in their access and then they have access to your phone," she said.
She says cryptocurrency is the largest target of these scammers. Brennan recommends logging out of accounts on phones, using multi-factor authorization or facial recognition.
