Symptoms
- Phone suddenly loses all service with no explanation
- You receive a message about a SIM change you didn't request
- Locked out of email or financial accounts unexpectedly
- Unusual account activity notifications after losing signal
Likely causes
- CommonScammer socially engineered your carrier into transferring your number to their SIMThis is a known attack method to intercept text-based two-factor codes.
- PossiblePersonal information (like your SSN or account PIN) was compromised elsewhere and used to impersonate youData breaches can supply the details needed for a convincing impersonation.
- PossibleLegitimate carrier-side technical issue unrelated to fraudRarely, a real outage or account error can look similar to a scam at first.
What to do
- If your phone suddenly loses all service with no clear cause, treat it as a possible SIM swap and act quickly.
- Contact your carrier immediately through another phone or online chat to check if your number was transferred without your authorization.
- Change passwords on your most sensitive accounts (email, banking, primary logins) from a device you know is secure, since a stolen number can be used to reset those passwords.
- Enable app-based two-factor authentication (not SMS-based) on important accounts going forward, since SMS codes are what SIM swap attacks intercept.
- Ask your carrier to add extra account security, such as a required in-person visit or stronger PIN, to prevent future unauthorized changes.
- Report the incident to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov and consider a credit freeze if financial accounts were affected.
When to call a pro
Contact your carrier's fraud department immediately, and consider contacting your bank and other sensitive accounts directly if you suspect any were accessed.
Safety
Use caution
Act quickly: a SIM swap can let an attacker intercept password reset codes for your email, banking, and other accounts within minutes.