How do mobile phone scams work?

One of the most common types of phone scamming involves a caller claiming to be an Internal Revenue Service official and threatening those who answer over supposed debts. According to Experian, these phony IRS agents will call and demand money from victims, threatening arrest or even deportation if they don’t comply.

What are mobile phone scams?

Cellular fraud is defined as the unauthorized use, tampering or manipulation of a cellular phone or service. Types of cellular fraud include SIM swapping, cloning and subscriber fraud.

Can a fraudster sell your mobile phone insurance?

If you’ve bought a new mobile phone, a fraudster may call you to sell you phone insurance, making out that they are calling from the shop where you bought it from, or from your mobile phone network. At best, you end up with poor quality phone insurance or, at worst, none at all. Personal Information and your mobile phone

How much does mobile phone fraud cost the UK?

According to the FCC, subscriber fraud costs mobile phone companies more than £100 million each year. They accounted for 442,000 thefts in the UK in 2015. If a stolen or lost phone winds up in the wrong hands it can be used to make unauthorised calls.

What should you do if you have been a victim of mobile fraud?

Mobiles phones and smart devices like iPads are now capable of holding a lot of your personal information such as access to your emails and mobile banking apps, it’s more important than ever to know how to keep data on your mobile phone or device secure. What should you do if you’ve been a victim of mobile phone fraud?

Is there a way to steal my cell phone number?

If the scam is successful, the phone number will be ported to a different mobile device controlled by the scammer. Another way to perpetrate this scam is to physically steal the victim’s SIM card, a removable device in some mobile phones that carries a unique ID and stores the consumer’s personal data.