https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinanc ... aypal_and/
Hackers essentially gained access to the mobile number and then went on resetting every possible account. I think they might have a combination of birth day and last 4 digits of SSN to begin with. Except for SSN, birthday, address, mobile numbers and lot others can be social engineerd. This is indeed scary and given the number of hacks that are happening, it is hard to escape something like this.
An excerpt from the top comment
Question/Discussion/thoughts:This is the solution to your problem. The criminals managed to get control of your wife number from her service provider. That's the reason her SIM is not working anymore. Having her number they can reset every password through SMS reset codes.
You need to get hold of her number again.
How do you plan your security and what do you think people have to change that they take for granted.
- separate email not disclosed anywhere for financial information
- choose second factor authentication to be email/sms/snail mail different for each accounts? I kinda think phone is a weak link.
- purge sensitive details from email/ after information is sought?
- share your best known methods.