[amohit]

Yesterday in TOI there was a news article on when we call back to missed calls from certain numbers, leads to sim cloning. The article went on to say that this could also lead to loss of personal information stored in the phone memory, loss of personal photographs, ATM pins etc.

I am little confused here. I can understand that calling those numbers can lead to callers being charged high rates. But how can it lead to information like phone book information, personal sms or other personal details from being transmitted over the air to those numbers in a few seconds time?

Is anyone aware of how this works?
I somehow have a feeling that these are paid articles by telecom operators to prevent the practice of missed calls to communicate, a practice very prevalent in India.



Here is the article in TOI


Article Window




Regards,

[sajo]

Strange. Even I am getting missed calls from random numbers like +37127950636 (Latvia) and my colleagues report similar numbers. It rings once and then stops.
Infact, me and the guy I share my cubicle with get missed calls from the above number at exactly 1 min intervals on weekends. Another friend reports he and his wife get regular missed calls from a number in Lithuania. (+37090300182).

[pramodpk]

I got a missed call from a number starting with +92. It rang once and stopped. I searched the net and found that +92 belongs to Pakistan. Later found the article about SIM cloning. Not sure how this works.

[IronH4WK]

Originally Posted by sajo

Strange. Even I am getting missed calls from random numbers like +37127950636 (Latvia) and my colleagues report similar numbers. It rings once and then stops.
Infact, me and the guy I share my cubicle with get missed calls from the above number at exactly 1 min intervals on weekends. Another friend reports he and his wife get regular missed calls from a number in Lithuania. (+37090300182).

this can happen if one is using a calling card and/or VoIP applications like Voipstunt. my sister sometimes calls/sends msgs using Voipstunt and it shows the ISD code of Italy (sometimes other countries in EU) although she's calling from Brussels.

[Daewood]

Me too got missed calls may times from such numbers. Once called back by mistake and got charged ISD rates. Complained to CC and it stopped.

Another time got a call from a number which seemed like a toll free one. Picked up and the guy at the other end claimed to be from CC of the operator and started asking personal information questions. Got suspicious because of his slang and asked him back a few questions. He got angry and started speaking in an abusive manner, which wouldn't happen if he were a genuine CC guy. Cut the call and it never happened again.

[vikram_d]

I kind of find this hard to believe. For a SIM/phone to be cloned your phone's ESN and MIN numbers need to be transmitted to whoever is doing the cloning. These numbers are only transmitted to your cellphone operator and not to anybody else. Yes these numbers can be hijacked when the transmission is taking place but I do not think that somebody sitting in some other country can do that.

Oh and another thing, your phone's ESN & MIN number can only be hijacked only if the person looking for it is within the broadcast range of your cell phone.

Well I am not a guru on cell phone technology but this is what I understood from reading about this subject on the internet.

Edit: ESN numbers are used for CDMA phones and for GSM phone IMEI number is used.

[Steeroid]

The 'article' in the Times of India is the product of the writer's fertile imagination. Disregard it, the guy does not know what he's talking about.

Please note that you cannot clone a SIM by getting it to call any number. It is only certain older SIMs used by operators using a specific, outdated algorithm that can be cloned. I doubt if any operator in India use either the older SIM or authentication methodology - even if they do, cloning requires physical access to the SIM card itself using some serious computing power.

There is no cloning occuring here - this is an old form of fraud involving call-backs to non-existent destinations that are sold at a very high termination cost in the wholesale market. The number or country-code appearing on the CLI may have no relation with the actual destination at which it is illegally terminated. That is why the 'money disappears'.

Please look up 'Wangiri Fraud' on Google - this is all that is happening. The rest of it is hogwash and deserves no attention.

There has to be some sort of punishment for this sort of irresponsible reporting by a national daily - even one with a questionable reputation like the Times of India.

Do not spread panic - that article should not be taken seriously.

Ideally someone should lock this thread because it is unintentionally propagating false information.

[kaushik_s]

This is definitely another hoax which is now sadly being spread by a leading newspaper of which we all know how careless they can be when it has to print any sensational news. I would like to know how it is technically possible to clone SIM or phone data over the GSM voice channel. This is surely a hoax similar to this one (albeit modified) -> Nine Zero Hash Phone Scam Hoax

[carbookie]

Originally Posted by amohit

Yesterday in TOI there was a news article on when we call back to missed calls from certain numbers, leads to sim cloning. The article went on to say that this could also lead to loss of personal information stored in the phone memory, loss of personal photographs, ATM pins etc.

Regards,

Your SIM cannot be cloned just because you called up a number. Doesn't matter if the number starts with +92 or #92 or ABCD. SIM cloning doesn't work this way.

Oh, and I also keep getting missed call from a number in Pakistan (+92).

[Samurai]

Thread is closed since it is based on false information - Support team