Mumbai businessman loses Rs 40 lakh over SIM card fraud

A businessman from Mumbai lost almost Rs 40 lakh from his bank account after cybercriminals got his phone’s SIM card blocked.

The mobile phone service provider then gave a replacement SIM card, which contained one-time passwords (OTPs) that the fraudsters were able to access.

The fraudsters used the OTPs and other notifications that they were able to obtain to complete the deals.

On April 3, the business filed a police report with Mumbai's North Region Cyber police office.

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.

He replied to the message, saying he had not made any such request.

He instantly received an SMS informing him that the request had been denied. The businessman, whose SIM was connected to his bank account, discovered that there was no service in the morning and that he was unable to initiate or receive calls or texts, 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.