India, Nov. 4 -- You're sipping your morning coffee when your phone suddenly loses signal. No calls, no messages, nothing. You restart it, but the problem persists. Minutes later, a banking alert appears on your email, money has left your account. The culprit? A scammer who's just stolen your mobile number.

This chilling form of cybercrime, known as SIM-swap fraud, is spreading fast. It gives criminals access to your phone number, letting them intercept calls, texts and those all-important one-time passwords that guard your online accounts. Once they control your SIM, they can reset your passwords, breach your email and even drain your bank balance. All before you realise what's happening.

It usually begins with data theft. Scammers col...