Tips For Avoiding SIM Swap Fraud Crime

JAKARTA - Many do not realize that Fraud Swap SIM crimes are becoming more widespread and of course dangerous. It is necessary to be aware of how to prevent fraud by using this SIM card replacement method.

Even though many think that their smartphones are safe from this kind of crime, the perpetrators cleverly take advantage of that weakness. With ease, perpetrators can control personal data and drain the funds in your Mobile Banking.

In order not to become a victim of this fraud, the following VOI describes tips or ways to prevent SIM Swapping which were explained by digital forensic expert Ruby Alamsyah in a webinar with the Ministry of Communication and Informatics (Kominfo), Monday, August 24.

Usually the perpetrators of SIM Swap Fraud crime will trick the victim first by sending a link via e-mail or chat and other applications. For that, for those of you who don't want to be victims, don't click on any unofficial links.

Never give or fill in information related to personal data and personal banking data to anyone, through any media.

This is very necessary in order to prevent you from that crime. You can validate a link that was sent or there is something suspicious on your cellphone activity.

You can save both numbers that can be contacted via cellphone and numbers that can be contacted in general.

Ruby suggests, in addition to a strong username and password, you also need to use the Two Factor Authentication feature such as the use of a token or one-time password (OTP) sent via SMS message.

Two-Factor Authentication, is an additional layer of security for user accounts. This means that the user has to go one more step to successfully sign in. You can also use the OTP which is provided as additional security when users are about to log in or make transactions to prevent account theft or abuse.

Generally OTP is given via SMS, but the issue of SIM Swap is a security reason for banks or online platforms to divert OTP delivery from SMS to over-the-top (OTT) services such as Telegram, Line, and WhatsApp. The fact is that mastering the instant messaging OTT application is much easier than mastering SMS.

Even so, Ruby asked operators and banking platforms to add multiple levels of security. Users can use fingerprints or facial recognition to reduce the possibility of hackers' access through one level of security.