SIM Swapping (SIM hijacking or SIM hacking) is rapidly becoming the biggest threat to mobile service providers and mobile users alike. Through this technique, a fraudster can obtain the original SIM card of the victim’s number by trapping the operator and perform all kinds of frauds such as performing transactions or distributing malware along with stealing sensitive private and financial data of the user.
In 2018 and 2019, there was a sudden surge in SIM swapping attacks, for instance, authorities in California arrested a man for carrying out a SIM Swapping attack and stealing millions of dollars from the victim after hacking their SIM card.
In another incident, a 20-year-old man from New York was arrested for stealing $1 million from a Silicon Valley Exec through SIM-swapping. The list goes on…
However, Europol has certainly identified the seriousness of this threat and Operation Quinientos Dusim and Operation Smart Cash are proof of this. Reportedly, law enforcement agencies across Europe, primarily from Romania, Spain, and Austria with the support of Europol have arrested a large number of SIM swappers operating in Europe.
See: Sim swapping hackers charged with stealing $2.5m worth of crypto
Under Operation Quinientos Dusim, Policía Nacional (Spanish National Police), Guardia Civil (Spanish Civil Guard), and Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre investigators collectively targeted suspected SIM swappers in Spain, who were supposedly members ..
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