SIM Swap Fraud Statistics 2026: Reported Losses, Attack Volume, And Who Gets Targeted

If you are trying to figure out how common SIM swap fraud really is, welcome to the club. The hard part is that a SIM swap is both a crime and a method. Sometimes it gets reported as “SIM swap.” Other times it is the first domino that leads to an account takeover, a bank transfer, or a crypto theft that gets counted somewhere else.

So in this 2026 edition, we will stick to the best published datasets, call out what they do and do not capture, and then translate the numbers into practical next steps.

• IC3 recorded 982 SIM swap complaints and $25,983,946 in reported losses in 2024 (Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI], 2024).
• In IC3’s three year comparison, SIM swap complaints went 2,026 (2022) to 1,075 (2023) to 982 (2024), and reported losses went $72,652,571 (2022) to $48,798,103 (2023) to $25,983,946 (2024) (FBI, 2024).
• IC3 received 859,532 total complaints in 2024 with $16.6 billion in losses across all categories (FBI, 2024).
• IC3 previously warned about sharp growth: 320 SIM swap complaints from 2018 to 2020 with about $12 million in losses, then 1,611 complaints in 2021 with losses over $68 million (Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internet Crime Complaint Center [IC3], 2022).
• The UK is seeing major escalation: Cifas reported nearly 3,000 unauthorised SIM swaps filed in 2024 and described a 1,055% surge (Cifas Press Team, 2025).
• Australia is also seeing spikes: IDCARE reported a 240% increase in people seeking help for phone porting and SIM swap fraud in 2024 versus 2023, and said 90% happened without the victim’s engagement (IDCARE, n.d.).

The cleanest U.S. snapshot comes from the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) annual report. In the Internet Crime Report 2024, “SIM Swap” appears as its own crime type with 982 complaints and $25,983,946 in losses (FBI, 2024).

That can look small next to the overall IC3 totals (859,532 complaints and $16.6 billion in losses in 2024) (FBI, 2024). But here is the catch: a SIM swap often functions like an access pass, not the final monetization step. The stolen number is used to reset an email password, intercept one time codes, and then drain accounts. The victim might report the end result (identity theft, investment fraud, account takeover) instead of the phone number takeover itself.

If you want a fast refresher on what a SIM swap actually is, start with this SIM swap scam explainer.

IC3’s 2022 PSA captured the early jump: 320 complaints from 2018 to 2020, then 1,611 complaints in 2021 (IC3, 2022). In the IC3 annual report tables, 2022 shows 2,026 SIM swap complaints and $72,652,571 in losses, followed by lower reported totals in 2023 and 2024 (FBI, 2024).

Should you celebrate the “decline”? Not really. There are at least three reasons these numbers can fall even if the threat is still very real:

• Victims may report the downstream fraud category instead of “SIM swap.”
• Carriers have added more locks and transfer PINs, which can reduce some attacks.
• Criminals shift tactics when one path gets harder.

So treat the IC3 trend line as signal, not a comfort blanket.

Outside the U.S., you see a lot more “this is exploding” language.

In the UK, Cifas said nearly 3,000 unauthorised SIM swaps were filed to its National Fraud Database in 2024 and called it a 1,055% surge year over year (Cifas Press Team, 2025). In Australia, IDCARE said it saw a 240% increase in clients seeking assistance for phone porting and SIM swap fraud in 2024 compared with 2023, and that 90% occurred without the victim’s engagement (IDCARE, n.d.).

Different tracking systems, but the same core weakness: phone numbers are still treated like a security credential.

The pattern is boring, and that is the point. Criminals want speed and leverage. They target people where a stolen number unlocks high value accounts fast:

• Bank and brokerage logins
• Crypto exchanges and wallets
• Your primary email (because it resets everything else)
• Accounts tied to reputation and reach (social profiles)

If you have money, visibility, or a lot of accounts that still rely on SMS codes, you are in the target zone.

SIM swaps keep working because too many services still use SMS as a recovery channel. Once an attacker controls your number, they can intercept codes and run password resets at scale. That is why a SIM swap can feel like “my whole life got hijacked,” not just “my phone is acting weird.”

If you want the early warning signs and what to check first, this SIM swap detection guide is the quick read.

Here is the practical translation.

1. Lock down the carrier layer. Enable the strongest protections your carrier offers and add a port-out lock if you can.
2. Move critical accounts off SMS. Use authenticator apps, passkeys, or hardware security keys for your primary email, banking, and crypto.
3. Treat sudden “No Service” as an incident. Assume it might be a SIM swap until proven otherwise.
4. Have a response plan. If you think you are being attacked, follow the first 60 minutes checklist and move fast.
5. If you want the full prevention playbook, read How to stop SIM swap fraud.

Bottom line: SIM swap is not the most common cybercrime category by volume, but it has outsized impact because it can unlock everything else.

Cifas Press Team. (2025, May 7). 1,055% surge in unauthorised SIM swaps as mobile and telecoms sector hit hard by rising fraud. Cifas. https://www.cifas.org.uk/newsroom/huge-surge-see-sim-swaps-hit-telco-and-mobile

Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2024). Internet crime report 2024. Internet Crime Complaint Center. https://www.ic3.gov/AnnualReport/Reports/2024_IC3Report.pdf

Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internet Crime Complaint Center. (2022, February 8). Criminals increasing SIM swap schemes to steal millions of dollars from US public (Alert No. I-020822-PSA). Internet Crime Complaint Center. https://www.ic3.gov/PSA/2022/PSA220208

IDCARE. (n.d.). Hijacked connections: The reality of phone porting and SIM swap scams. IDCARE Learning Centre. https://www.idcare.org/learning-centre/newsletters/hijacked-connections-the-reality-of-phone-porting-and-sim-swap-scams