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I have an interesting situation on my hands. There are people in my neighborhood that have been harassing me for some time now. It appears that these individuals can are receiving my text (sms) messages and iMessages as they literally yell out information from personal conversations I'm having with my friends and family, and yell out OTP I receive from several services. However, there have been no unauthorized logins on my ATT account, or iCloud account. Additionally, I've reached out to ATT support and they claim to have added extra security to my account, however the harassment continues. How can this sms spoofing be done? Are there any ways to definitively detect if this is sms spoofing, or some kind of malicious mind game? Is it possible to determine which devices are receiving these sms messages? Are there any actions I can take to defend against this?

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This is not a Sim Swap Attack. On a Sim Swap Attack, your phone loses data connectivity because your SIM is marked as lost or stolen, so that SIM cannot connect back to the network. The only way to get connection back is to get another SIM, or having your company restore your SIM status.

What is more likely is that someone (maybe you) installed malware on your phone, and that malware is sending your messages to them. Take a look on all applications you have installed, change your passwords, verify on your iCloud account what can access it (check your devices in iCloud settings, and double check they don't have malware installed (especially on Macs if you have any)) , those kinds of things.

Are there any ways to definitively detect if this is sms spoofing, or some kind of malicious mind game?

This is definitively not SMS Spoofing. It would be a malicious mind game if people who are harassing you and those you are in contact are together on this.

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  • SIM isn't necessarily marked as lost or stolen; SIM swap can also be executed by impersonating the user and switching the device/number their SIM is associated with
    – belkarx
    Jan 5, 2022 at 1:48
  • I've erased everything on my phone and the harassment continues. Additionally, I use a VPN at all times when connected to WIFI and 5G. Another concerning aspect is that these individuals seem to be able to know about my internet activity on basically any app I use; twitter, Instagram, etc. Can you suggest anything else I can try? They have been enabling others in my neighborhood to gain access to my texts and internet activity. VPN and speaking with ATT customer support hasn't worked. If malware is sending data to them is there a way I can confirm this and determine where it's being sent to?
    – AnonAverageAlice81204
    Jan 18, 2022 at 17:42
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This is likely a SIM-swapping attack which utilises social engineering to get a company to change the phone number with which SIM card (and therefore the messages sent to it) is associated. Here is a decent course of action to mitigate the effects of SIM-swapping.

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  • No, this is not a SIM-Swapping Attack. OP still have connectivity and still receives messages, and that would not happen on a SIM-Swap Attack.
    – ThoriumBR
    Jan 4, 2022 at 17:06
  • They can be routed back to the intended receiver, right?
    – belkarx
    Jan 4, 2022 at 23:57
  • No, they cannot. If a SIM Swap was executed, OP would not be able to receive any SMS message at all.
    – ThoriumBR
    Jan 5, 2022 at 0:06
  • Incorrect. In a far fetched scenario, it is possible to SIM swap transparently. It's not likely but not impossible
    – belkarx
    Jan 5, 2022 at 1:48

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