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Ayup. Here's what I got back from them: In light of the extended Fraud on your account, I believe that due to the 7 day lapse between you collecting t

by 3JPLW 7y ago

Ayup. Here's what I got back from them: In light of the extended Fraud on your account, I believe that due to the 7 day lapse between you collecting the SIM and returning to the USA, then your details could have been compromised anywhere. In all probability, this occurred in the USA as this is where the accounts have been set up and believed the fraudsters would have had to have been in order to benefit from the crime. The fact that you bought a SIM card in the UK is purely circumstantial I’m afraid, therefore we would not investigate this further. Of course I was shouting "THEY HAD TO SHIP IT BACK TO THE U.S. FOR IT TO WORK" as well as providing the call logs documenting calls from the Atlanta region (where I don't live and hadn't visited), but it fell on deaf ears and I gave up. That response made me feel like a tin-hatted conspiracy theorist, though: yes, I am certain I was defrauded through an international criminal conspiracy.

CloudNetworking 7y ago
I understand your frustration, but I also think they have a point. What you're telling us is all based on your educated guesses as to how they might have pulled this. There are things that feel a bit weird and I'm guessing you have no evidence to prove them, such as the scammer shipping the real SIM back to Atlanta in time before you realise the issue. How did you realise the SIM card you were handed was fake? Couldn't it be that they instead duplicated your SIM whilst you weren't looking? IMHO the police (or FBI or whatevs) in the US should conduct the investigation as that's were the fraud happened. They'll evaluate if it's worth it contacting their counterparts in the UK to move forward. However I also think it is good that you've given a heads up to the UK local authorities. Do you remember what company was offering the local SIMs? I've seen mostly Lebara, but not in Heathrow...
- megous 7y ago
  Is SIM cloning still easily doable?
- 3JPLW 7y ago
  The SIM ICCID that I physically had in my hands upon return was different than the ICCID that ATT had on file for me. I also watched the dude do it right in front of me, but of course SIM cards are quite easy to palm. It was the "Tourist Services" kiosk and I bought a £20 Lebara card. He very kindly taped the ATT card down to the Lebara cardboard packaging, and I wasn't able to remove that tape without damaging it so I'm quite certain that it wasn't swapped elsewhere. I did also report it to both my local police and the FTC and the FBI but never could gain traction as nobody thought it was their jurisdiction. I eventually gave up once my credit was repaired.
  - thefreeman 7y ago
    Just playing devil's advocate, the ICCID on file would also be different if they had managed to compromise your account and change the sim associated with it.
    - 3JPLW 7y ago
      They also had the last-changed date (which was from when I set up my account).
- jrochkind1 7y ago
  That might be reasonable. It also makes the scam OP is guessing happened a pretty good criminal scam, since the police will refuse to investigate it... I mean, what possible additional evidence could one plausibly have that the guessed scam is indeed what happened? Which is the scary thing about all these SIM-theft things. It clear happened, there's really no way for the victim to know how/where/what/when/who.
  - 3JPLW 7y ago
    It certainly took me quite some time to put all the pieces together — and I'd wager very few folks defrauded like this are able to realize exactly what happened. I do wonder if it's still happening...
megous 7y ago
Anyway, thanks for sharing. This is not exactly an obvious fraud. I think one way to prevent it, aside from remembering to not let your SIM off your hands is to mark/paint your SIM and make it unique and easily recognizable. Then you can deal with it immediatelly, even if you forget the rule to not give your SIM temporarily to others. (You'll probaly not forget, but people who may not have your experience and still want to protect themselves against this, may.) Also the attackers will not probably attempt to swap unique looking SIM in the first place.
- 3JPLW 7y ago
  Other ways are to use phones with 2 SIM card slots or simply use a local carrier with decent international roaming support or (of course) carry a paperclip to just do it yourself.

by 3JPLW 7y ago

CloudNetworking 7y ago

I understand your frustration, but I also think they have a point. What you're telling us is all based on your educated guesses as to how they might have pulled this. There are things that feel a bit weird and I'm guessing you have no evidence to prove them, such as the scammer shipping the real SIM back to Atlanta in time before you realise the issue. How did you realise the SIM card you were handed was fake? Couldn't it be that they instead duplicated your SIM whilst you weren't looking? IMHO the police (or FBI or whatevs) in the US should conduct the investigation as that's were the fraud happened. They'll evaluate if it's worth it contacting their counterparts in the UK to move forward. However I also think it is good that you've given a heads up to the UK local authorities. Do you remember what company was offering the local SIMs? I've seen mostly Lebara, but not in Heathrow...

megous 7y ago
Is SIM cloning still easily doable?
3JPLW 7y ago
The SIM ICCID that I physically had in my hands upon return was different than the ICCID that ATT had on file for me. I also watched the dude do it right in front of me, but of course SIM cards are quite easy to palm. It was the "Tourist Services" kiosk and I bought a £20 Lebara card. He very kindly taped the ATT card down to the Lebara cardboard packaging, and I wasn't able to remove that tape without damaging it so I'm quite certain that it wasn't swapped elsewhere. I did also report it to both my local police and the FTC and the FBI but never could gain traction as nobody thought it was their jurisdiction. I eventually gave up once my credit was repaired.
- thefreeman 7y ago
  Just playing devil's advocate, the ICCID on file would also be different if they had managed to compromise your account and change the sim associated with it.
  - 3JPLW 7y ago
    They also had the last-changed date (which was from when I set up my account).
jrochkind1 7y ago
That might be reasonable. It also makes the scam OP is guessing happened a pretty good criminal scam, since the police will refuse to investigate it... I mean, what possible additional evidence could one plausibly have that the guessed scam is indeed what happened? Which is the scary thing about all these SIM-theft things. It clear happened, there's really no way for the victim to know how/where/what/when/who.
- 3JPLW 7y ago
  It certainly took me quite some time to put all the pieces together — and I'd wager very few folks defrauded like this are able to realize exactly what happened. I do wonder if it's still happening...

megous 7y ago

Anyway, thanks for sharing. This is not exactly an obvious fraud. I think one way to prevent it, aside from remembering to not let your SIM off your hands is to mark/paint your SIM and make it unique and easily recognizable. Then you can deal with it immediatelly, even if you forget the rule to not give your SIM temporarily to others. (You'll probaly not forget, but people who may not have your experience and still want to protect themselves against this, may.) Also the attackers will not probably attempt to swap unique looking SIM in the first place.

3JPLW 7y ago
Other ways are to use phones with 2 SIM card slots or simply use a local carrier with decent international roaming support or (of course) carry a paperclip to just do it yourself.