Sim Swapping

In January, a published study revealed how incredibly easy it is for hackers and fraudsters to take control of your phone number, potentially leading to thousands of dollars in fraud -- that's yourmoney on the line. The practice of SIM swapping is becoming more common, and despite carriers putting safeguards in place, it's scary how quickly the researchers were able to take over a phone number.

The SIM card inside your phone is a small plastic chip that tells your device which cellular network to connect to, and which phone number to use. We rarely ever think about SIM cards, except maybe when we get a new phone.

SIM swapping occurs when someone contacts your wireless carrier and is able to convince the call center employee that they are, in fact, you, using your personal data.

They do this by using data that's often exposed in hacks, data breaches, or information you publicly share on social networks to trick the call center employ into switching the SIM card linked to your phone number, and replace it with a SIM card in their possession.

new card, all of your incoming calls and text messages will be routed to whatever phone the new SIM card is in.

At first glance, it seems somewhat harmless. But when you consider that most of us have our phone numbers linked to our bank, email and social media accounts, you quickly begin to see how easy it would be for someone with access to your phone number can take over your entire online presence.

Matthew Miller, a contributor to CNET sister site, ZDNet, fell victim to a SIM swap scam last year, and he's still experiencing the repercussions of the fallout. Whoever took over Miller's phone number gained access to his Gmail account, and promptly changed his password, then erased every email, deleted every file in his Google Drive account, and eventually deleted his Gmail account altogether.