{"id":16506,"date":"2023-10-31T06:16:53","date_gmt":"2023-10-31T00:46:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=16506"},"modified":"2025-04-04T19:52:26","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T14:22:26","slug":"sim-swap-scam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/sim-swap-scam\/","title":{"rendered":"What is a SIM-Swap Scam?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>About SIM-Swap Scam<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>All banking applications are linked to phone numbers, which help in generating OTPs\u00a0(to authenticate transactions) or receiving important bank-related messages.<\/li>\n<li>In the SIM swap scam,\u00a0fraudsters first take personal details\u00a0such as phone numbers, bank account details, and addresses\u00a0with the help of phishing or vishing.<\/li>\n<li>After receiving the personal information, fraudsters visit the mobile operator\u2019s retail outlet, posing as the victim with a forged ID proof,\u00a0and report a fake theft of the victim\u2019s SIM card\u00a0and\/or mobile phone.<\/li>\n<li>By doing this, they attain a duplicate SIM.<\/li>\n<li>Notably,\u00a0scamsters can get a duplicate SIM even when the original is working, as they reported a theft of the original SIM card.<\/li>\n<li>Unlike other scams, where scamsters trick people into giving OTPs and private information on a phone call, the\u00a0SIM swap scam doesn\u2019t require direct communication with the victims.<\/li>\n<li>However, fraudsters do give missed calls to their victims so that the latter leave their phones and ignore the lost network connectivity.<\/li>\n<li>When the SIM is swapped, the accused gains control of the entire SIM. All calls and messages go through their SIM only.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Once in control of the SIM card, they are able to obtain passwords and OTPs that allow them to\u00a0access their targets&#8217; bank accounts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What is Phishing?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Phishing is a technique in which\u00a0scamsters send malware links to victims through mail or messages.<\/li>\n<li>Once the link is opened,\u00a0the\u00a0malware steals all of the victim\u2019s\u00a0personal information.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Q1) What is Malware?<\/h3>\n<p>Malware, or malicious software, is any program or file that is intentionally harmful to a computer, network or server. Types of malware include computer viruses, worms, Trojan horses, ransomware and spyware. These malicious programs steal, encrypt and delete sensitive data; alter or hijack core computing functions and monitor end users&#8217; computer activity.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-sci-tech\/sim-sawp-scam-9003615\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>What is the \u2018SIM swap scam\u2019 \u2014 and how can you protect yourself?<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the SIM swap scam, fraudsters take control of the victims SIM card and they are able to obtain passwords and OTPs that allow them to access their targets&#8217; bank accounts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":16507,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16506","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}