MUMBAI: A Mumbai-based businessman lost nearly Rs 40 lakh from his bank account after cyber fraudsters got his phone’s SIM card blocked.
A new SIM card was then issued by the mobile service provider, one-time passwords (OTPs) to which was accessed by the fraudsters.
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The OTPs and other alerts, which were accessed by the fraudsters, were used by them to conduct the transactions.
The businessman lodged an FIR with the North Region Cyber police station in Mumbai on April 3.
In his complaint, the businessman said that he had recently received an SMS from his mobile service provider about a SIM change request at night.
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He replied to the message, saying he had not made any such request.
He immediately got an SMS saying the request had been cancelled. However, in the morning, the businessman found that there was no signal in his SIM, which was linked to his bank account, and he was unable to make any calls or receive messages, even on WhatsApp.
“As he had kept his phone on ‘call forward’ mode, he checked his other phone and he found that he had received two voice calls for OTPs to transfer money,” said a police officer.
The businessman called up the bank, but as he couldn’t get any information about the transactions, he approached the cyber police.
After collecting the businessman’s account details, the cyber police contacted the bank’s nodal officer who informed them that Rs 39.5 lakh had been transferred in different accounts in eight transactions.
Police probed further and found that the money had then been withdrawn from ATMs in West Bengal the same morning.
Police have written to the banks where the money had been transferred and got the seven accounts frozen.
Police also found that the fraudsters had sent an email to the mobile service provider requesting a SIM change, along with the number inscribed on the card.
Police suspect that the complainant’s SIM stopped working after the fresh one was issued to the accused.
“We have written to the company asking about the details of the SIM change request. We are awaiting their reply,” said the officer.
The unidentified accused have been booked for cheating and forgery under the Indian Penal Code and for identity theft under the Information Technology Act.