PSA - Visible records your SIM swaps

[PaulCrawhorne]

me: Can you see anything in my record that would explain why it stopped working?

Visible: Sure thing! Please allow me a few moments to check your account, Hans.

me: ok

Visible: I appreciate!

Visible: thanks for waiting while I was checking your account! I don't see any significant change that can be causing the cellular data issue. There are only multiple SIM swaps alerts.

me: OK, yes when things get very slow on 4G - buying the Pure from Visible was a mistake - then I swap it into my Pixel 7 which is 5G, and thus much faster

[zapjb]

Wasn't this known?

[PaulCrawhorne]

Perhaps to most. Definitely not to all.

If a post does not apply to you personally best to just ignore it.

[Serial Port]

I guarantee that the cellular company knows every time that the SIM is changed. It is automatically notated to the account when it happens. Nothing new or exciting. Every time the phone connects to the cellular network, the SIM# and the IMEI# are broadcasted.

[clonehappy]

The carrier also store your call logs and metadata, tower location information, and text message metadata for 7 years. Additionally, text message contents are kept up to 30 days depending on the carrier. Every app you use, every website you connect to, every TCP/IP connection you make from the phone is also stored in a database for a period of time.

That’s just the data they keep hot in the online systems. Assume with backups and cold storage that it goes back until the beginning of time.

I mean, while we are doing PSAs, I would assume there are plenty of people that don’t know that either. Not to bust the bubble of the guys who bought a prepaid SIM from the gas station and reload it with cash, but once you’ve called your mom and your best friend from the same phone, they know it’s yours based on the metadata alone and all that trouble you went through is for nothing.

And yeah, SIM swaps too, they always know what device you have used or are using at any given time.

The more you know…!


Sent from my iPhone using HoFo

[NCTed]

This is why you really need to clone other people's SIMs to avoid detection.

[PaulCrawhorne]

I have no concerns here about privacy (LOL) and yes of course all this stuff is recorded by the MNO carrier and archived in various systems.

What I found interesting was that the frontline CS system makes SIM swaps readily obvious to the reps.

For those trying to work around the hotspotting restrictions, I figured that might be a useful data point.

[Serial Port]

What I found interesting was that the frontline CS system makes SIM swaps readily obvious to the reps.

As a former CS rep for postpaid, the main reason is for troubleshooting phone issues. It helps to have a history of devices associated with an account and also helps prevent fraud usage.