Mumbai: Police have managed to freeze a sum of Rs 4.65 crore out of Rs 7.5 crore lost by the Mumbai-based owner of a private company in a SIM swap cyber fraud, officials said. In the SIM swap fraud, a form of identity theft, scammers trick the network provider into linking the mobile phone number of their target to a SIM card they have in possession and access to OTPs sent by the bank to the genuine person.
It is a form of account takeover where cyber crooks gain access to a victim’s phone number. This allows them to assume control over the victim’s mobile identity, enabling unauthorized access to personal online accounts linked to the number.
The private firm owner was duped for Rs 7.5 crore by cyber fraudsters in suburban Kandivali on Monday, officials said on Tuesday. The scamsters got the access of the company’s bank account with the help of SIM swipe and made multiple unauthorized transactions, an official said, adding the money was then transferred to various bank accounts in a span of a few minutes.
On realizing he has been cheated, the company owner dialed 1930 cyber helpline and informed about the fraud. The victim also sent an email giving details about the unauthorized transactions, he said.
Officials of cyber crime branch immediately contacted the nodal officer of the bank concerned and also put the complaint on the NCCRP (National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal) simultaneously.
The cyber police team managed to freeze Rs 4.65 crore out of the total amount lost by the victim within four hours of the fraud. However, most of the remaining amount was withdrawn by the fraudsters, the official said.