Wholesale glossary
A SIM swap transfers a subscriber’s phone number to a new SIM card. Legitimate when the subscriber requests it; fraud when an attacker social-engineers the operator into performing it, intercepting OTPs and taking over bank accounts and accounts everywhere. Carriers detect abnormal swaps with pattern analytics; enterprises verify number status before trusting an OTP.
Why it matters
SIM swap sits at the intersection of carrier responsibility and enterprise fraud exposure: the theft happens in the bank, but the enabler happened on the network. That makes swap monitoring both a compliance topic and a service opportunity.
What practitioners watch
Watch for swaps followed by immediate international roaming, sudden SMS-only usage, and swaps requested outside subscriber behaviour norms. Enterprises: verify numbers via lookup services before high-value OTPs.
Related: Fraud Prevention · Mobile Money Monitoring