SIM Swap and Duplicate SIM Fraud through an app

How it looks through an app, the red flags and what to do.

A fake app can be installed from a link, from a file sent on chat or even from a lookalike listing. Once on your phone it can ask for powerful permissions. SIM Swap and Duplicate SIM Fraud is one of the ways this shows up: Fraudsters get a duplicate SIM for your number, take your OTPs and empty accounts. Sudden loss of signal can be the first sign. Learn the steps.

What sim swap and duplicate sim fraud looks like through an app

• A screen-sharing or remote-control app that a caller asks you to install.
• A loan app that asks for contacts and photos.
• A "KYC", "challan" or "bank rewards" app from a link.

The scammer first collects enough about you to pass a SIM replacement request: your name, date of birth, address and Aadhaar details, bought, leaked or tricked out of you. They also learn which bank you use. Sometimes a caller poses as the operator and asks you to press a key or share a code to 'approve an upgrade', which actually approves the replacement.

Red flags to check on the app

• Your phone loses network for hours while others work.
• A caller asks you to reply with a code to approve an upgrade.
• You get an unexpected message about a SIM replacement.
• Bank alerts stop arriving or arrive on other channels only.
• It has few or odd reviews, or a name with spelling changes.
• It asks you to turn off Play Protect.

What to do

1. If you lose network suddenly, use wifi to contact the operator through its official app or the number on your bill.
2. Ask your bank, through its official app on another device, to lock net banking and UPI.
3. Never approve a SIM change by replying to a message from a caller.
4. Do not install it. If it is installed, uninstall it now (Settings, Apps).
5. Open Settings and check Accessibility, Device admin apps and Install unknown apps for anything you do not recognise.
6. Change the passwords of your bank and email from a clean device if the app had access.

Report the fake app to the store it came from and, if money moved, call 1930 and report at cybercrime.gov.in.

If money or a code is already gone

1. Call 1930 right away and tell them the loss and the times.
2. Contact your bank through the number on your card to block accounts and cards.
3. Ask the operator to block the duplicate SIM and restore yours.
4. File a complaint on cybercrime.gov.in and change email and banking passwords.

National Cyber Crime Helpline: 1930; report at cybercrime.gov.in.

Safeavio Sentinel's anti-theft feature includes a SIM-change alert, so if the SIM in your phone changes you can be told. The scam check reads a pasted message or call note and flags requests to approve an upgrade or share a code. It cannot detect a swap done on the network side, and it does not replace calling your operator and bank, which is what restores your number.

Full guide: SIM Swap and Duplicate SIM Fraud: how it works, signs and what to do. Other channels: phone call, SMS.

Questions