Spanish Police Arrested SIM Swappers who Stole Money from Victims Bank Accounts

The Spanish National Police have arrested eight suspected members of a criminal organisation who used SIM swapping assaults to steal money from the victims’ bank accounts. 

SIM switching assaults are used by criminals to get control of victims’ phone numbers by duping mobile operator workers into transferring their numbers to SIMs controlled by the fraudsters. The attackers can steal money, cryptocurrency, and personal information, including contacts linked with online accounts, once a SIM has been stolen. Criminals could take over social media accounts and utilise SMS to circumvent 2FA services utilized by online services, including financial services. 

In the incident under investigation by Spanish police, the cybercriminal gained the victims’ personal information and bank details via fraudulent emails in which they pretended to be their bank. The fraudsters were able to falsify the victims’ official documents and use them to dupe phone store staff into issuing them with replica SIM cards. They were able to overcome SMS-based 2FA needed to access bank accounts and take the money once they had the SIM cards. 

The press release published by the Spanish National Police stated, “Agents of the National Police have dismantled a criminal organization dedicated, presumably, to bank fraud through the duplication of SIM cards. There are eight detainees based in Catalonia and acting throughout Spain who, through malicious messages and posing as a bank, obtained personal information and bank details to access t

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