"The nightmare began"

SIM swapping: how to protect yourself from fraud

SIM swapping is a less common form of identity theft in which fraudsters gain control of a phone number.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/ZinetroN - stock.adobe.com)

The scam is not new, but it is comparatively unknown and therefore all the more rewarding for the perpetrators: SIM swapping deprives users of what is probably the most important access to their data - their telephone number. Krone+ on the consequences and how you can protect yourself.

Fatima Hussein is a journalist for the US news agency AP. Her specialty: financial reporting. Although she says she's "not the most tech-savvy person", her job means she knows how to stay safe online, regularly changes her passwords, uses multi-factor authentication, logs out of apps she doesn't use regularly and generally makes sure that as little of her personal data as possible gets online. None of it helped in the end.