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> The victim can ask their operator to lock the SIM card, but their WhatsApp account would still be out in the open.

Can't the legitimate owner recover the account once they get a replacement SIM?

Whoops, my comment isn't very clear, sorry. I meant: "but their account would still be active and in the hands of the thief, if there is no way to quickly deactivate it, e.g. before receiving a new SIM card from their operator that would enable you to prove your identity to WhatsApp."

How long would this be open vs shutting it down using the email method?

Do you mean how long is account recovery by the SIM/number owner possible, or how long can the phone thief continue using the WhatsApp account if the owner doesn't recover?

Maybe I misunderstood the comment you and parent comment were making. I interpreted it as "they can recover it via SIM, so the lockout method isn't needed".

My point to that is that it is true, but the lockout would prevent a thief from using it until the new SIM is received. Versus a thief having access until the new SIM is received.

I use telegram instead of Whatsapp, but I would hate for anyone to have any time at all on my account. I'd prefer to immediately lock the whole thing down and figure it out once I have everything sorted.

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