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

Question

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?

HenryBemis · Accepted Answer

> probably overseasDo 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.

KomoD · Answer

SIM swap on a random grandmother? No, not very common.SIM swap attacks are usually targeted (high value targets, e.g. crypto people)

diegoholiveira · Answer

Unfortunately, it&rsquo;s a very common attack.

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

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.