Security Alert: Sim swapping crooks can accesses your cellphone

If you have a cellphone and suddenly don’t have service, it might not be a dead spot. It may be someone sim swapping. This is when a crook can transfer your phone number to their own phone.

It’s all done with a sim card. The small chip inside your phone acts as a cellphone’s fingerprint.

Crooks call cellphone companies and claim they are you. They will tell the company they got a new sim card for their phone.

If people like this are successful, they will get all your phone calls and texts routed to their phone.

Carrie Kerskie, an identity theft expert, explains how you can become aware if this has happened to you personally.

“It’ll say no service on your phone,” Kerskie said. “Now sometimes you might be in [a dead spot], but if you’re somewhere you know you always have service and all of a sudden it says no service, you better look into it.”

Crooks are doing this kind of thing to gain access to your important accounts.

Since password retrievals can be sent via text, if they are now getting your texts, they are also getting into your accounts.

You can protect yourself by making your email address your password retrieval option.