Residents of Port St. Lucie are being alerted to a rise in SIM swap scams that leave victims unable to make calls, send texts, and vulnerable to financial losses, according to local authorities.
The Port St Lucie Police Department has been instrumental in recovering significant funds for one such victim, with a reported $96,000 salvaged from an attempted theft of nearly double that amount, this incident highlights the severity of the issue where a scammer managed to transfer the victim’s phone number to a new device, gaining control over their personal finances and beginning to move unauthorized funds totaling $195,000, investigators in collaboration with the bank’s fraud department tracked and froze some of the ill-gotten gains as reported by CBS12.
Key signs of falling victim to this scam, as relayed by the PSLPD, include an inability to call or text, despite a suddenness and unexpected disruption to service, notifications of SIM or number activation on a new device, difficulties or complete inability to access critical personal accounts like banking or social media, and spotting unrecognized transactions during regular financial statement checks, as per guidance from the PSLPD and shared by WPBF…