Fatima’s story became a quiet cautionary tale in her family WhatsApp group. And every time an unknown code arrives on a screen in Lahore, someone whispers: 56789. Don’t share. Think twice.
The SMS read:
Fatima stared at the screen. She hadn’t requested any code. Her fingers hovered over the delete button, but something made her pause. A month ago, her cousin had lost 85,000 rupees to a SIM swap scam. The police had said it started with an “unexpected code.”
“56789? That’s too clean,” her sister said. “Scammers use random numbers, but this… this looks like a test. Someone might be mapping active numbers for a bigger attack.”