Employees for telecom companies such as Verizon and T-Mobile are reporting that scammers are attempting to bribe them to help them with SIM-swapping attacks.
SIM swapping gives hackers your phone number, allowing them to bypass your 2FA settings, change your passwords, and monitor your texts. SIM-swapping requires a hacker to obtain details that are normally saved to your device or kept with your respective Telecom company.
All a hacker normally needs is your phone number and an employee that will port it for you to a new SIM card, instantly giving them access to all of the victim’s information. Usually, scammers can’t obtain your SIM card, even when using advanced social engineering schemes.
So, by targeting employees from these telecom companies with bribes, the hackers were hoping to easily obtain a large quantity of customer SIM cards. Screenshots were shared on Reddit and other social media sites by current and former employees who claimed that strange people reached out to them via text and phone calls, offering them a $300 bribe for cooperation. Many users are speculating on how the actors even got their information.
“Got the same message today on my employee phone, I work for Verizon though,” reads one of the texts posted online.
There were other similar posts.
“I’m looking to pay someone up to $300 per sim swap done, if you’re interested, reply and we can talk.”
Multiple employees also reported it to the companies they work for, informing them of the bribery attempts.
T-Mobile issued an official response.
“We did not have a systems breach. We continue to investigate these messages that are being sent to solicit illegal activity. We understand other wireless providers have reported similar messages,” T-Mobile said in a statement.
Employees are continuing to come forward on social media.
“Former tmo employee here, and feeling curious about how they even have my number lol.”