Hello JMM1,
Welcome to the community!
I don't think the SIM you received would have been a duplicate of your old one as that isn't possible. The SIM you received would not have been associated with any account or phone number. You would need to update your SIM card via My Account --> Usage & Services --> Mobile --> Quick Actions (near bottom of page) --> Update SIM card, to transfer your account and phone number to your new SIM. Since the new SIMs are not unassigned and updating the SIM card are done ourselves via My Account, there is no need for a verification of ID.
You should note that your old SIM would be deactivated. It's not possible to have two SIMs active with the same phone number.
That said, did they update the SIM for you at the store? If so, I agree that they probably should have verified your ID before doing so.
Hope this helps 😀
Cheers
Hello again,
@Cawtau wrote:..... Since the new SIMs are not unassigned and updating the SIM card are done ourselves via My Account, there is no need for a verification of ID...
Oops! My apologies, that should be ...are not assigned... or ...are unassigned...
Sorry for any confusion caused 😬
Cheers
Hello again,
Thank you for the additional information. I do understand your concern, however, not checking ID in this case would unlikely result in a SIM swap hack.
In this case, you were in possession of your SIM card and the account and phone number were transferred to another SIM which remains in your possession. A concern might be whether the device was stolen or not. If the device was stolen and the SIMs switched, the owner of the account would remain the same and would still be able to block activity on the account.
The more concerning issue of SIM swapping is that ownership of the phone number changes hands. Rather than switching SIMs, the fraudsters somehow convince another provider to port the phone number to their account. In this case, the original owner of the phone can not prevent activity on the phone number and fraudsters have unhindered access to the number.
Yes, switching SIMs for a possibly stolen device is troubling since someone could bypass a phone's security features by using a different device to access the phone number. However, blocking activity on the account should be able to prevent fraudulent usage of the phone number.
Hope this helps 😀
Cheers
Hello again,
@JMM1 wrote:...How did they know that my SIM card was in my posession? No one checked. Even if I present a SIM card, how do they know it's the SIM that belongs to my number? No one checked either...
In my first reply, I mentioned that I agreed they probably should have checked your ID to verify the phone wasn't stolen. As mentioned above, if the phone was stolen, the new SIM would still be registered to your account and if you blocked your account because you reported your phone was stolen then the new SIM would be blocked.
@JMM1 wrote:..Even if I present a SIM card, how do they know it's the SIM that belongs to my number? No one checked either....
The SIM card has a serial number on it which is associated with your account. When updating SIMs, they require both the old SIM card number as well as the new SIM card number. If the serial number on the SIM provided does not match the one used on your file, the SIM update procedure cannot proceed.
@JMM1 wrote:..So you're telling me that anyone can walk into a Fido store, say they are me, ask for a new SIM card and get one...
New SIM cards are not associated with any account or phone number, so yes, anyone can go in and ask for a new SIM card. To swtich the SIM, you would need to update the SIM via My Account, as described above. In order to do so, you would need to enter the serial number of the SIM currently associated with your account. Unless someone has physical access to your phone, they won't be able to update the SIM.
Again, if the update was done in store, they probably should have verified your ID.
@JMM1 wrote:..No wonder SIM swapping is a thing.
As alluded to above, what you noted isn't the SIM swap scam. Yes, you switched SIMs, however, if the phone was stolen, that would be theft and not this particular scam. Rather, the fraudsters somehow convince another provider to port the phone number to their account. The device was never stolen, only the phone number was transferred to a different account.
Hope this helps 😀
Cheers
