TL;DR: The FBI's IC3 recorded SIM-swapping complaints rising more than 400% between 2018 and 2021, with victims reporting losses exceeding $68 million over that period; more recent FCC complaint data shows the count roughly doubling again, from 275 in 2020 to 550 in 2023.
The FBI's IC3 recorded SIM-swapping complaints rising more than 400% between 2018 and 2021, with victims reporting losses exceeding $68 million over that period; more recent FCC complaint data shows the count roughly doubling again, from 275 in 2020 to 550 in 2023.
What the Data Shows
Neither agency yet publishes a single clean year-over-year SIM-swap figure the way they do for phishing or romance scams, but every available data point points the same direction — up — making phone-carrier PIN protection and app-based (rather than SMS) two-factor authentication worth setting up now.
Why This Matters
Numbers like these are a reminder that this isn’t a rare event — it’s a routine risk. Checking whether your own information has already been exposed takes 30 seconds and costs nothing.
If this looks similar to something else you've seen, it's worth reading How Fast Do Stolen Credentials Get Used After a Breach?.
This pattern shows up elsewhere too — see How Long Does It Take to Recover From Identity Theft?.
Frequently Asked Questions
What do the numbers actually show?
The FBI's IC3 recorded SIM-swapping complaints rising more than 400% between 2018 and 2021, with victims reporting losses exceeding $68 million over that period; more recent FCC complaint data shows the count roughly doubling again, from 275 in 2020 to 550 in 2023.
What does this mean for you?
Neither agency yet publishes a single clean year-over-year SIM-swap figure the way they do for phishing or romance scams, but every available data point points the same direction — up — making phone-carrier PIN protection and app-based (rather than SMS) two-factor authentication worth setting up now.
Where does this data come from?
This data is drawn from FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), a primary reporting source for fraud and identity theft data.