![]() ![]() They were my carrier, they did not protect my information," Michno said. That’s why Michno believes phone carriers have a responsibility in protecting their customer’s information and phone numbers from unauthorized transfers. The FCC said with the number of customer data breaches increasing over the last few years, more customer info, like a person’s phone number and carrier, are accessible in illicit markets on the dark web. Phil Michno, Savings Stolen After SIM Swap What happened to you is happening to a lot of people. And the longer you have had your phone number, the more information a hacker can find that is likely out there and tied to your number. Michno said his case is now in the hands of the FBI and that the Bureau told him many people are falling victim to SIM swapping schemes. In most cases, the company said it "does not cover any losses … due to a compromise of a customer’s login credentials." ![]() In a statement, CoinBase told NBC 5 Responds it is prohibited from sharing details about Phil’s loss. "They wrote, 'Oh, we've found that you've been the victim of a SIM swap.' And all of your bitcoin has been stolen," Michno said. Michno said when he contacted CoinBase to warn them he had been hacked, they told him it was too late. In Michno's case, the thieves went for his CoinBase account holding $135,000 of BitCoin, savings he says were meant to be the foundation of his daughter’s college fund. SIM Swapping is a scheme that the Federal Communications Commission reports hundreds of people fall prey to each year. As they arrive, a scammer is sitting right there, receiving them. That SIM is then virtually connected to the thieves' device, and now, they have access to everything on your phone, including password recovery texts. The way SIM swapping works is a scammer, imitating you, convinces your current phone carrier to switch your number to another company through your "subscriber identity module" or SIM. What happened to Michno is called "SIM swapping." Michno said the Boost Mobile representative told him they had received a request – allegedly from him - to transfer his number to another carrier.īut Michno was not the person who made that request, a point he relayed to the new carrier his phone number was moved to in a conference call with Boost Mobile. "I said 'I never changed to another company!'" "I called Boost Mobile, and I said 'Hey, what's going on with my phone? It’s not working.' And they said 'Oh, we see that you changed to another company,'" Michno explained. But the call left him with more questions than answers. To find out what was going wrong, Michno said the first call he made was to his phone carrier: Boost Mobile. "I log into my email and I wasn’t able to, it said 'Password Changed.'" "I went to make a call and it wouldn’t make a call," Phil Michno said. ![]() That’s what happened to one man in Joliet, who tells NBC 5 Responds his worst fears came true when out of the blue, his phone stopped working. ![]() To start, ask yourself: How many accounts do you have tied to your phone number for security? And if someone stole your number, could they gain access to what matters most? NBC 5 Responds found new federal regulations could help better protect you from these kinds of schemes in the future, but for now, it’s wise to implement stronger protection yourself. Our redesigned local news and weather app is live! Download it for iOS or Android - and sign up for alerts. ![]()
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