A terrifying new smartphone scam is on the rise

In today’s Big Story podcast, it’s called ‘phone number porting’ or ‘SIM swapping’ and if a scammer can pull it off, it transfers your phone numbers, and all the access to all the applications and services that come with it, to a third party. That person can then use your number to gain access to many other parts of your digital life, and hold them for ransom.

So why is this technique on the rise? What are carriers and police doing to stop it? What can you do if you suspect someone’s trying to get control of your number? And when the authorities catch up to this one, what’s next in the digital arms race?

GUEST: Ritesh Kotak, cybersecurity expert

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You can also find it at thebigstorypodcast.ca.