SMS Verification Bypassed for Pennies, Researchers Find

Researchers from the University of Cambridge found out that it's very cheap to create fake online accounts.

They discovered that you can buy temporary phone numbers for just a few cents.

These numbers are used to get verification codes sent by text message, which helps prove that an account is real.

The researchers checked four different services that sell these temporary numbers.

They found that numbers from some countries, like the UK and Russia, cost as little as 10 cents.

Numbers from Japan and Australia are more expensive, costing around $5 and $3, respectively.

The researchers also found that getting a number for WhatsApp costs about $3, while getting one for X (formerly Twitter) costs just 8 cents.

This shows that it's easy and cheap to create fake accounts, which can be used for spreading false information or scamming people.

The researchers want to make people aware of this problem so that better solutions can be found.