Cyber fraudsters are coming up with new and innovative ways to target the victims. In an interesting case, a cyber fraudster converted the SIM card of a Malad based man to eSIM and duped him to the tune of Rs 1.56 lakh.
eSIM is an embedded SIM which is similar to normal SIM but does not have a physical presence. The eSIM technology is embedded directly into the eSIM enabled devices.
The fraudster posing as a representative of a mobile services provider lured the 14-year-old son of the victim’s relative into a trap and duped him.
According to the Malad police, the victim's bank account was linked with a mobile number that was used by his 70-year-old mother. On July 24 she received a call from one Rahul Malhotra who introduced himself as a representative of mobile service provider and told the woman that her phone would not be operational if she didn't do what he was saying. The woman who was unable to understand his directions and gave the phone to her relative’s 14-year-old son who was there with her.
Rahul informed the boy that all their data in the phone will be lost if they did not do data verification. He then sent a text message on woman's mobile number and asked the boy to resent the message. It was a request for eSIM, however, since the woman was using an IPhone, the boy was unable to fulfill his request, said police.
"Rahul then told the boy download an application and took access of the victim’s mobile phone. He later asked the boy to start the camera and asked him to scan the code which he had sent for an eSIM request. As soon as the code was scanned a "Thank you" message was received on the woman's number and her mobile network went off.
The following day Rahul again called the teenager, this time on his number and told him that the woman's phone would be activated again, but they need to recharge it. When the boy told him that he has no money, Rahul asked him to scan his father's debit card. “When the boy gave the phone to me, he told me to download the same application, which I did, but did not share the details and disconnected the phone smelling something fishy. When I checked my account I was shock to know that Rs 1,56,537 were transferred from someone's account," said the victim requesting anonymity.
The victim then approached Malad police station and registered his complaint.
