Celeb SIM-Swap Crime Ring Stole $100M from U.S. Victims

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A posse of alleged SIM-swapping cybercriminals has been rounded up across Europe by law-enforcement after the crooks finagled more than $100 million from U.S. celebrities and their families.
 
Eight people in the U.K. were arrested in connection with the crime ring, in addition to individuals in Belgium and Malta, according to Europol. A handful of suspects remain at large.

“The attacks orchestrated by this criminal gang targeted thousands of victims throughout 2020, including famous internet influencers, sport stars, musicians and their families,” according to an alert from the organization.
 
In a typical SIM-swapping attack, attackers use stolen, sleuthed or phished personal information – including, crucially, a person’s mobile phone number – to impersonate a target. They contact the victim’s mobile carrier – easily discovered with an online search – and ask to port the line to a different SIM card/device, one controlled by the attackers. In this way, all incoming calls and texts are re-routed to the fraudsters.
 
This approach is trivial to execute and offers a bevy of follow-on attack options. Most importantly, it allows crooks to bypass SMS-based two-factor authentication (2FA). From there, it’s easy to use the previously phished information to gain access to and take over online/mobile banking or other high-value accounts.

Read more: https://threatpost.com/celeb-sim-swap-cr...0m/163888/