Telecom & Account Scams

Fraudsters hijack your phone number by convincing your carrier to transfer it to a SIM they control, bypassing SMS-based two-factor authentication.

Fraudsters transfer your mobile number to a different carrier without your consent, redirecting your calls and texts to intercept security codes.

Fake carrier upgrade offers or impersonators trick you into handing over personal details, paying fees, or giving up your device in exchange for a promised upgrade that never arrives.

Fraudsters impersonate your mobile carrier's customer support team to harvest account credentials, authorise fraudulent changes, or extract payment.

Fraudsters gain unauthorised access to your existing accounts — email, banking, social media — using stolen credentials, phishing, or SIM swaps, then exploit or sell the access.

Fraudsters promise — or impersonate the process of obtaining — official social media or platform verification badges, charging fees or stealing credentials in the process.

Attackers use a compromised account to message the victim's contacts, exploiting established trust to request money, personal details, or account access.

Scammers claim to have obtained your personal data, passwords, or compromising material from a breach and threaten to share it unless you pay — often in cryptocurrency.

Fraudsters take over your mobile account by impersonating you to your carrier, then use your phone number to bypass two-factor authentication on banking and other accounts.

Fraudulent calls and texts impersonating your mobile carrier to trick you into handing over account details, authorising transfers, or paying non-existent upgrade fees.

Fraudsters impersonate mobile carriers offering roaming bundles or data add-ons, collecting payment for credits that are never applied to the account.

Fraudsters impersonate mobile or broadband providers to claim you are owed a rebate, harvesting bank details or charging a fee to 'release' money that does not exist.

Fraudsters pose as mobile insurance providers or third-party claim handlers, collecting personal details and fees from people trying to claim for a lost or damaged phone — and delivering nothing.

Unauthorised third-party charges are added to your phone bill without your consent, often disguised as service subscriptions or premium content fees you never signed up for.

Fraudulent text messages impersonating your mobile carrier warn of account problems, unpaid bills, or security alerts to steal credentials or payment details through convincing fake portals.

Attackers exploit carrier eSIM provisioning processes to transfer your phone number to a digital SIM they control, achieving the same account-takeover outcome as a physical SIM swap without needing a SIM card.

Your phone rings once from an unfamiliar international number and disconnects, enticing you to call back — connecting you to a premium-rate line that charges by the minute.

Scammers send urgent texts, emails, or calls claiming your mobile or broadband bill is overdue and your service will be cut off within hours unless you pay immediately through a link or over the phone.

Third-party 'unlocking services' advertised online charge upfront fees to remove a carrier lock from a phone, then deliver nothing, an invalid code, or a service that bricks or blacklists the device.

Scammers posing as telecom or tower-company representatives approach landowners with offers to lease their property for a new cell tower, collecting upfront 'processing fees' or pressuring an early buyout of an existing lease for far less than it's worth.

Scammers spoof caller ID to display a phone number with the same area code and first few digits as the person being called, exploiting the assumption that a 'neighbor' number is a local, trustworthy caller.

Scammers call or message claiming to represent the official Do Not Call registry, saying a fee, personal details, or 'verification' is needed to keep or add a number on the list — a service that is actually free and requires no such payment.

A "buyer" or new contact asks to verify you are real by having a code texted to your phone, then read back to them. That code links a Google Voice number to yours, quietly handing the scammer control of your number.