SIM-swap fraud: when your phone stops working in the middle of the day
A quiet phone is sometimes a warning. Here's what SIM-swap attackers do and the 45-minute window you have to respond.
What SIM-swap actually is
An attacker convinces your telecom operator that they are you and need a replacement SIM. Your phone goes dead. Their phone now receives your OTPs. Fifteen minutes later, your bank balance is elsewhere.
The warning signs
- Sudden loss of signal — "no service" — when everyone around you has coverage.
- A text from your telco about a "SIM change request" you didn't make.
- Calls from an unknown number asking for an OTP "just to verify".
The 45-minute window
- Borrow any working phone. Call your bank's 24/7 hotline first, not the telco. Freeze cards.
- Call your telco next. Ask them to reverse the SIM swap and put a SIM-change lock on the account.
- File cybercrime.gov.in immediately — the timestamped complaint is the single best lever for bank reimbursement.
- Change passwords on anything that used SMS-based 2FA (email, bank, UPI apps).
Preventing it next time
- Move 2FA from SMS to an authenticator app (Authy, Google Authenticator, 1Password).
- Ask your telco to add a PUK/port-out PIN to your account.
- Never read an OTP aloud on a call. Ever.
