The attack vectors typically involve four phases: preparation (registering multiple phone numbers through SIM farms or fake identities), execution (triggering high volumes of verification requests), defense evasion (using tactics to bypass rate limits and fraud detection), and monetization (routing traffic through rogue providers who manipulate delivery reports without actually delivering messages). The financial threat posed by SMS pumping extends beyond direct messaging costs to include potential service disruptions, customer trust erosion, regulatory penalties, and long-term reputation damage—making detection and prevention critical priorities for organizations utilizing SMS verification systems. This cybercrime tactic, similar to a modern-day toll scam, involves artificially inflating SMS traffic through automated means, generating fraudulent revenue while leaving legitimate businesses to absorb unexpected costs. The fraud attempt was only discovered because the perpetrators misconfigured their operation, generating an unmistakable surge of registration attempts within a single hour rather than distributing them throughout the day to blend with normal traffic patterns. The company discovered that 390 telecom operators were allowing bot accounts to exploit its two-factor authentication system, generating fake SMS traffic to inflate their own revenue. The fraudsters collaborate with rogue telecom providers or intermediaries who intercept the inflated SMS traffic, typically avoiding actual message delivery to reduce expenses while still collecting revenue from the legitimate business. At its core, SMS pumping involves threat actors triggering large volumes of verification messages through fake account registrations or password reset requests.
This Cyber News was published on cybersecuritynews.com. Publication date: Thu, 10 Apr 2025 09:30:25 +0000