Mumbai: 32-Year-Old Bhandara Man Duped Of ₹5.30 Lakh In 'SIM Swap' Fraud; Case Registered

Mumbai: The police are on the lookout for an unknown scammer who cheated a 32-year-old man from Bhandara of Rs 5.30 lakh in a suspected sim swap fraud.

On November 16, the complainant received a phone call from a person claiming to be from a telecom company. The caller asked the man to share his Aadhaar card details and an OTP that he received on his mobile if he wanted to continue services. The complainant followed the instructions and after a few hours he realised that his SIM card was not functioning.

The complainant then visited the telecom company’s gallery and was shocked to know that his mobile number was being used by some other person. Later, as he visited his bank, he was shocked to learn about his money transfer in 30 transactions.

The man then approached the police and got an offence registered in the matter. He has given details of the contact number used by the scammer and fraudulent transaction details.

A case has been registered by cyber crime police under section 318 (cheating) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and sections 66C (identity theft), 66D (cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology Act.

In a sim swap scam, the fraudster collects data through social media, and phishing and then calls a phone service provider and impersonates the victim. The fraudsters trick the carrier into switching the victim’s mobile number to a SIM card on his phone after which they start getting incoming calls and texts meant for the victim, including account access codes.