Pune: Man lost Rs 18 lakhs to fraudster who pretended to update SIM card

Kothrud, June 5, 2020: A 45-year-old man from Kothrud lost Rs 18 lakhs to a fraudster who impersonated as a telecom company executive and promised to help in SIM card upgrade. Now an FIR has been registered against him at Kothrud police station under Pune city police.

Based on a complaint from Sachin Kulkarni (45), the case has been registered for offences under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Information Technology Act. Kulkarni works for a private company. On May 6, Kulkarni received a call on his mobile phone from an unknown person. He was told to update the SIM card. He was then told that a new SIM card number would have to be sent by the mobile company. As ‘instructed’ by him, Kulkarni sent a message to the given number. After that, the fraudster misused the new SIM card and withdrew Rs 1.8 lakh from Kulkarni’s bank account.

Kulkarni has a bank account on Bhandarkar Road in the Deccan Gymkhana area. The thief contacted Kulkarni’s bank on May 8. In Kulkarni’s name, he asked the bank for a personal loan of Rs 16.45 lakh. After the loan was approved online, the thief transferred the loan amount in his own account. Thus, the fraudster swindled a total of Rs 18.25 lakh, said Police Inspector (crime) Kiran Balwadkar, of Kothrud Police Station. He is investigating the case.

What is SIM swapping?

According to cyber crime cell, fraudsters call people and ask them if there are facing issues like call drop, slow internet speed etc. As these are general issues, many people fall to the trap of the fraudsters. They promise that all these issues will be resolved if their SIM card is updated. They will send you a 20 digit number and ask you to send it to 12354. Your SIM card becomes inactive immediately after the message is sent. However, the fraudster gets access to your phone number and he starts misusing it like withdrawing money from your account. 

Senior police inspector of cyber police station Jairam Paygude said people should immediately contact their bank to freeze the account and change the mobile number linked to the bank account. They should approach the cyber police station located in police headquarters in Shivajinagar on email: [email protected] or phone number: 02029710097