Real life example of SIM swap hits Verizon customer in the wallet
A Verizon customer was the victim of a SIM swap that took place because a Best Buy rep failed to ask a customer for ID.
SIM swap costs Verizon customer after fraudulent iPhone purchase. | Image by PhoneArena
A Verizon customer who had his SIM locked to prevent it from being transferred to a new phone without his consent was stunned yesterday when he became the victim of a SIM swap anyway. A thief bought a new iPhone at Best Buy using the victim's phone number.
Best Buy allows thief to pull off SIM swap by failing to ask for ID
The thief was given the new device with a SIM connected to the victim's Verizon phone number without having to present an ID, according to a social media post from the victim. If true, that is a major screw up on Best Buy's part.
The victim managed to rush to a physical Verizon store within one hour after the service on his phone was cut off due to the SIM swap. In a panic at the store, he spent a couple of hours with Verizon Store employees who could not block the transaction at Best Buy.
Thief ends up buying $1,550 iPhone that Verizon demands that the victim pay for
On Reddit, where he has an account under the username "Top_Tax3157," the victim said that while he did get his phone number back within three hours, he did not get his life back. The thief used two of his credit cards during the three-hour period. In addition, Verizon is charging him $1,550 for the iPhone that the thieves pretending to be him at Best Buy purchased.
We see this many times with a SIM swap fraud. Why didn't Best Buy demand an ID from the customer moving an active SIM card to another account? It makes you wonder whether someone inside Best Buy, and or Verizon, was in on the scam here.
A Best Buy and/or Verizon insider might have been involved in this SIM card swap
Making matters worse, even though Verizon knows that the purchase of the iPhone was the result of a fraudulent transaction, the carrier is still demanding $1,550 from the victim by April 27 for the iPhone that was purchased at Best Buy. Verizon is now threatening to take $1,550 from his bank account by that date.
Watch out for these signs that you are the victim of a SIM swap. | Image by King Communications
The victim is partially locked out of his Verizon account online preventing him from viewing his bill, or changing his automatic payments. In his Reddit post, he talks about freezing or closing his checking account.
Who is responsible for the Verizon subscriber's loss?
Interestingly, the response from some of the other Reddit subscribers was to blame the victim. As it turns out, the victim works at a bank and is very aware of SIM swaps and identity thefts.
One response that I couldn't wrap my head around came from a Reddit subscriber who appears to work as a rep, possibly at Verizon. He was trying to defend Verizon by pointing out that
the carrier is also a victim here, and that Verizon will lose money due to the fraud.
As true as that is, Verizon is a company currently valued at over $192 billion and a $1,500 hit hardly makes a dent in the company's financial position. The customer has pretty much made it clear that his life has been negatively affected by the incident.
Just last month, we told you about another Verizon customer who was victimized by a SIM swap. It didn't happen the same exact way, but the process of obtaining the SIM information was too simple.
The truth is that for most SIM swaps to be successful, the criminal needs help from an insider. A few days ago we showed you a text received by a T-Mobile rep who was asked multiple times to reveal information about T-Mobile customers.
What to do if this happens to you
The rep was offered $500 for each SIM swap that the criminal successfully pulled off using the information provided by the rep. To his credit, the rep turned down the offer.
If your mobile service cuts out unexpectedly, and you cannot access your apps, you could be the victim of a SIM swap or your carrier could be down. If you are the victim of a SIM swap, you will receive a notification that says, "A SIM change has been requested for your line."
If this happens to you, call your carrier ASAP and tell them that you have lost your network connection due to a SIM swap.
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