Thread by @patio11

This keeps happening to cryptocurrency enthusiasts, but is a well-worn attack within the capabilities of a non-technical teenager. medium.com/coinmonks/the-…

Take your phone number off your Gmail/etc accounts and use hardware or TOTP 2FA.

Incidentally, while the cryptocurrency community provides easy one-stop-shopping for high-value targets, once criminals develop a business process to exploit this they could plausibly expand into adjacent markets.

This *very much* includes startup founders, etc.

Ideally you do business with financial institutions which will not just give all the money irreversibly to anyone capable of spoofing your cell phone but strongly consider defense-in-depth against attacks like this.

Some friends/acquaintances of mine had near misses to similar.

At the risk of getting close to socially contentious topics: there exist *some* banks and brokerages which will respect an account note "No account actions or transfers above $Xk unless I am standing in front of you in the office."

You may want that service level someday.

"Can you recommend any?" Socially contentious because of the nature of my job, but in most futures where you wake up with atypical amounts of money in an account you'll also know at least one person who has been dealing with your threat model for years. Ask them for a rec.