Security News > 2022 > February > Spanish Police Arrest SIM Swappers Who Stole Money from Victims Bank Accounts

Spain's National Police Agency, the Policía Nacional, said last week it dismantled an unnamed cybercriminal organization and arrested eight individuals in connection with a series of SIM swapping attacks that were carried out with the goal of financial fraud.

The suspects of the crime ring masqueraded as trustworthy representatives of banks and other organizations and used traditional phishing and smishing techniques to obtain personal information and bank data of victims before draining money from their accounts.

"They usurped the identity of their victims through the falsification of official documents and tricked employees of telephone stores into getting the duplicate of SIM cards, cards where they received security confirmation messages from banks that allowed them to empty their victims' accounts," the authorities said.

As many as 12 bank accounts were frozen as part of the illicit operation.

SIM swapping, also known as SIM hijacking, is a malicious technique wherein criminal actors target mobile carriers to gain access to victims' bank accounts, virtual currency accounts, and other sensitive information.

Over the years, SIM swapping has evolved into an increasingly prevalent form of cybercrime, causing theft to the tune of millions of dollars from victims' cryptocurrency wallets and bank accounts.

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https://thehackernews.com/2022/02/spanish-police-arrest-sim-swappers-who.html