Security News > 2022 > October > Verizon prepaid accounts hijacked by SIM swap crooks

Verizon has notified some prepaid customers that their accounts were compromised and their phone numbers potentially hijacked by crooks via SIM swaps.

From there, the crooks could access the personal info in an account and perform a SIM swap.

"Using the last four digits of that credit card, the third party was able to gain access to your Verizon account and may have processed an unauthorized SIM card change on the prepaid line that received the SMS linking to this notice," the alert continued.

The Register has asked Verizon how exactly the partial credit card numbers were obtained in the first place: were they obtained from Verizon or some other place? We'll let you know if there's answer.

The carrier assured customers that, "If a SIM card change occurred, Verizon has reversed it." Additionally, Verizon said it prevented further unauthorized access to customer accounts using the last four digits of the credit card linked to the account.

Now in control of the email account and phone number, the thief can start going through all of the victim's online accounts and apps, resetting passwords with the links and texts going to the webmail or hijacked phone number, logging into profiles and wallets, stealing any cryptocurrencies found, and so on.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2022/10/19/verizon_breach_sim_swap/