I was doomscrolling on X a few minutes ago and saw this post about someone who lost his funds from his bank linked to his SIM card in a very short while and this part struck me as to how the SIM pin we mostly neglect can save us
A cyber expert told me that fraudsters, after stealing your smartphone, don't unlock it first,
They first remove your SIM Card and insert it into a simple Feature Phone,
Then they dial the government's official offline banking code *99# USSD Service that works without internet,
From there, they directly request an OTP on your SIM to set a new UPI PIN and wipe out the entire account,
This is called sim swap / sim take over fraud,
The foolproof way to avoid this is SIM PIN Lock,
Immediately lock your SIM Card so it doesn't work in any other phone,
https://x.com/RakeshP38298981/status/2111798793620636081This is very important as we might not know for sure the conditions we might loose our phones in the future. Some people use expensive phones but fail to protect their SIM cards. The scammer doesn't need to unlock your phone to wipe your funds, having access to your SIM card is enough.
A lot of you might say "We'll go ahead to block the accounts" but there is a possibility you'll not get another phone to do it readily and there may be network fluctuations which might be a hurdle. The best security measure is a
preventive one since your account cannot be wiped out if they have no access to your SIM. If they try a wrong code thrice on it, the SIM locks itself and you can retrieve it later on.
How to add these pin codesLocating it might differ across phone models, so I'll advice you browse for where you can initiate SIM lock on your phone.
If you're setting this for the first time, endeavor to use the default network codes first and as old PIN before you can now put yours as the new pin.
Here are the Default SIM pins for major networks in Nigeria- MTN: 00000
- Airtel: 1111
- Glo: 0000
- 9mobile: 0000
NOTE: If you don't use these default codes first, the SIM will lock you out and you'll be requested to enter your PUK code to continue the process.
This should be treated as a necessity to further secure our funds in case we lose our phones.
