Beware of SIM card swapping fraud, Canadian couple lost 140000 yuan as a result
Wayne Stork and his wife Diana's cryptocurrency worth over CAD 140000 has gone missing, and to their surprise, they had never heard of SIM card exchange fraud until they became victims.
This couple from the Greater Toronto Area did nothing wrong, but they still lost about 140000 yuan.
Wayne told Global News in a TV interview that this is a nightmare for us.
Diana said that the reason why we talked about this matter is to let more people know about it.
According to reports, this couple is a long-term customer of Freedom Mobile. Last September, when the couple was at home, Wayne's phone suddenly stopped working.
He said my phone entered SOS mode and was disabled.
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Since then, Wayne no longer uses this phone, but others can access personal information related to it.
Diana said that Wayne watched as the money in his account was withdrawn, and that's when panic began.
Within the next 24 hours, the scammers gained access to Wayne's stock trading account and other accounts, including a cryptocurrency account containing inheritance income.
Diana said that the Bitcoin in the account is worth 140000 yuan, and we lost them all.
When the couple called Freedom Mobile's customer service hotline, they said a representative claimed that records showed someone had obtained a new SIM card at a retail store in Toronto, apparently claiming to be Wayne Stork.
Wayne said that the phone representative asked him: Didn't you go to the store yesterday and buy a new SIM card? Wayne said no, that's not him.
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SIM card swapping fraud can take different forms. These are all variants of takeover fraud, where criminals will contact your mobile phone provider and deceive them into activating a SIM card in order to gain access to your phone number.
When Freedom Mobile took action, Wayne suffered severe losses through Wealthsimple, including losing 5500 yuan from CIBC's stock account; A TFSA account worth 15100 yuan; And Canadian Western Bank stock worth 6013 yuan.
Wayne stated that after reporting the fraudulent behavior to the police and Wealthsimple platform, although the company admitted that he was not at fault, Wealthsimple subsequently refunded the money taken by the fraudster.
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But in the Coinbase account unrelated to Wealthsimple, Wayne has approximately 140000 yuan worth of Bitcoin, which has been lost forever.
He said it's our retirement pension, it's our money. Wayne is frustrated with Freedom Mobile because in the six months after his account was compromised, he said the wireless operator did not provide compensation.
Freedom Mobile wrote in an email statement sent to Global News: The security of our customer information has always been a top priority for us. SIM card swapping is a problem throughout the industry, and Freedom Mobile is actively working to prevent this from happening.
A company spokesperson added that in Wayne's case, we can confirm that we have contacted the client to resolve the issue.
The Canadian Telecommunications Association, representing many telecommunications providers, wrote in an email statement: Our members place great importance on any issues related to customer privacy and security
Marketing and Communications Director Nick Kyonka stated in an email statement that the total number of unauthorized number transfers and SIM card exchanges decreased by 95% between October 2020 and May 2021 during the implementation of new security measures.
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The Canadian Radio, Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is the regulatory body for the industry, and in response to a request for comment, they stated that they "recognize this is an issue".
A spokesperson said that CRTC sympathizes with the pressure and difficulties caused to individuals by such fraudulent behavior.
But John Lawford, the executive director of the Ottawa Public Interest Initiative, said in an interview with Global News that Canada needs regulatory changes to protect consumers from SIM card swap fraud.
John Lawford said to make this a problem for the phone company, not for the customers
He said: We have no punishment in the regulatory system, compared to other countries where telephone companies will be held accountable if customers are defrauded. For example, in Australia, the penalty for each SIM card exchange is 200000 yuan.
Although the industry has informed CRTC that the number of fraud cases has significantly decreased, the telephone company will not disclose how many customers have been defrauded in the past year.
Wayne and Diana paid a high monetary price for things they couldn't control. Filing a legal lawsuit against Freedom Mobile is a possibility that has already been considered.
So what measures can consumers take to reduce the risk of becoming victims of SIM card exchange fraud?
The Canadian Telecommunications Association advises people not to post personal information such as birth dates on social media; It warns you to be extra careful with email and text message prompts that require changing passwords or updating account information; It also recommends that consumers ensure that the security questions and answers of service provider account verification are difficult to guess.
Source link:
https://globalnews.ca/news/10376032/toronto-couple-sim-swap-scam/