Are you scared of someone stealing your sim card and putting it on it’s phone, I must admit that sim card should be kept especially if it contains lots of personal information of the user.
Looking at the question of today, what can someone do with your sim card?
There are lots of answers to the question. I will answer this question based on the general use of a sim card and not just concentrate on a particular country or region.
First, I’m advising you not to allow anyone collect your sim card and insert it on its phone especially if the phone is fully unlocked.
Now let’s jump in to the question we have, what can someone do with your sim card.
What can someone do with your sim card?
Someone can import your sim contacts straight to it’s mobile phone without getting your consent.
Aside from that there are more to what someone can do with your sim card.
An active sim card contains a user personal information like the name, address, plus other information. In some countries, a sim card is linked to bank account and through it someone might get banking information of a user.
If the sim card is carrier locked same with the third party user, nothing will work, absolutely nothing. However, if reverse was the case then below is what will happen.
1. To access the user personal information
A third party person can use a sim card to access the user’s network service or personal information like calls, messages, contacts etc which is pretty much bad for the user.
The third party can get informations like contacts and messages stored in the sim card. Maybe the third party person is in dire need of a particular contact from the user’s sim, once the third party person get the user’s sim card, the third party person will transfer or import all the user’s sim to his or her phone.
2. To receive calls and messages
This is the second answer to the question of what can someone do with your sim card, to receive calls and messages meant for the user.
If someone steals your sim card and it is compatible with the third party person’s phone, then it simply means that all calls and messages will be received in the third party person’s phone.
This is why you should preserve your sim card and keep it very safe, don’t even think of sharing it with someone unless you trusted the person so much.
3. Getting the user banking information
This is where I’m going to lay down emphasis and stress a lot because this is very much important. In some countries like Nigeria, sim card are linked to each bank customers account and which they use to check their bank account.
Banks in Nigeria have a ussd code which is a type of mobile banking bank customers used to check their account information like the account balance, account number and other information though it usually have a pin to secure it.
Once a third party person gets hold of the sim and the user pin, the third party person will have all the banking information by simply dialing the bank ussd code on the sim.
Through the sim card, a third party person can hack or steal from the bank customer or even use the sim to make payment online. This is why it is very compulsory to protect your sim card if it is linked to your bank account.
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Generally, the answer to the question of what can someone do with your sim card is to get information or a personal information from the user and that’s all. This is the sole reason why people go and steal other people’s sim card especially if their phone supports the sim card.
Why would someone steal a sim card?
The main reason why someone would steal a sim card is to retrieve or get information of the sim card owner. The information I’m talking about is the user’s personal information which includes messages and contacts.
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Others are the likes of to receive text messages and calls meant for the user especially if they are suspicious of the sim user.
What to do about it
Once you noticed that someone has stolen your sim card, do not hesitate to contact your network provider to block the sim card immediately. Doing this will prevent the third party person from having an access to the sim card.
If you didn’t act faster, you better know that all your personal information including contacts, messages will be retrieve by the third party person.
What happens if i put someone else’s sim card in my phone?
If you put someone else’s sim card in your phone, then be rest assured that all the messages and calls will be sent to your phone and if your phone is compatible with the sim card.
In general, nothing will happen except for the fact that you will retrieve or import all the contacts in the sim card straight to your phone.
You can even go ahead and retrieve text messages from the sim card though I’m not sure if this is quite possible as text messages are not stored or saved in a sim card.
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You will see all the incoming calls and also the caller ID. For more personal information, I can’t really figure out how it is done cause they are saved by the network provider.
So right now you have the answer to your question of what can someone do with your sim card, it is left for you to protect and safe guide your sim card. If you don’t need the sim any, destroy it completely before disposing the sim.
In countries where sim card are linked or connected to a bank account, it should be handled with adequate measures and avoid every means of a third party getting hold of the sim.
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In cases like someone stole my sim card please don’t hesitate to call your network service provider and request that they block the sim card immediately.
Once the sim card sim is blocked, it will be useless to the third party person andsthis also goes with cases like someone is using my sim card.
If things gets wrong or bad, immediately contact your network service provider to help you out.
What happens if someone has your SIM card?
If someone has your sim card the person may steal some information through your sim card or use the sim card to impersonate you.
It is more risky if you happen to use the sim card for your banking information as the person may get access to your bank account through your sim card. This is why it is recommended to immediately block a sim card if you found out that you have lost your sim or can’t seem to find it.
Once you find out that someone is in hold of the sim card and you don’t know or trust the person, please kindly contact your network service provider and request for them to block your sim card.
Remember, they can also unblock the sim card when you have resolved your issue with your sim.
Can someone steal information from a SIM card?
The simple answer is yes. Someone can steal your personal information stored in your sim card more especially if you used your sim card for your bank account.
If you have your contacts saved in your sim card, someone can easily copy the entire contact straight to hid or her phone.
Now let me make this clear.
If your sim card happen to fall into a hands of a hacker and whicg you used the sim card for your personal or corporate banking, the person may withdraw all the entire money in your bank account.
Yes it does happen and I have seen it happen to someone that I know.
But what I can’t really explain is how they do it.
All I know is that there is a code that will be sent to someone’s phone and through the code they will hack into the person’s bank account and transfer all the money from the account.
Once again this is why it is very important to immediately block your sim card if you noticed someone has taken it without your notice or you can block your bank account.
Both bank and network service provider will help you out.
What information can someone get off my SIM card?
The information someone can get off your sim card are your personal information like your name, address and contacts saved in your sim card.
Through your sim card someone can get your banking information which has everything about you including your passport photograph. Also bear in mind that text message received in your sim card will be saved on the person’s phone as well as calls.
Where it is very crucial is when you used the sim card for your bank account. Please don’t hesitate to block your bank account before blocking the sim card. When you have resolved the issue then you can unblock them.
Can someone hack your phone with just your phone number?
The simple answer is yes. Someone hack your phone with just your phone number and a code, this is why it is very important to always protect your sim card and as well your phone especially online.
Through your phone number a code will be sent to your phone or a link and if you happen to click the link or give the person the code sent to your phone, your phone may get hacked.
This is why you need to be extremely careful giving out any code you received on your mobile phone or tapping on any link sent to your phone number through text message.
This is where I draw the line on this post of what can someone do with your sim card, I do hope you understood all I have explained.
