This type of attack has been happening for a long time in Russia where criminals often have accomplices among employees of a cellular carrier or its dealer. The

This type of attack has been happening for a long time in Russia where criminals often have accomplices among employees of a cellular carrier or its dealer. There is often no serious responsibility for this and such employees often get away with a fine or just being fired. The most notable example is when a certain person's SIM card was reissued 4 times within 2 days in different cities by criminals while the owner was trying to restore access to her phone. To prevent it, some Russian banks have agreements with carriers that allow them to check SIM card's identifier and detect whether it was reissued. If such situation is detected, the bank doesn't allow to use new SIM card to confirm operations. Some carriers block new SIM cards from receiving SMS for 24 hours and send a SMS with notification to an old SMS card so that the owner can restore access. Also, one can restrict a list of locations where your SIM card can be reissued.