HYDERABAD:Think twice when unknown person calls you on your mobile asking sensitive and important details about SIM card. The fraud called ‘SIM Swap’, is relatively new, sophisticated form of fraud that allows hackers to gain access to bank accounts, credit card numbers, and other personal data. It’s a growing trend and more and more people are falling prey to it.
In May, Hyderabad Cyber Crime police received a complaint from a person stating that he had received a message from a mobile service provider asking him to change settings of his phone to get good mobile network. When the complaint pressed 1 on his mobile phone, within seconds the important data including his bank account number and PIN numbers were hacked. Immediately, the entire amount was withdrawn from the complainant’s bank account.
The Cyber Crime police told Express that the modus operandi of cheats is that they make a phone call to gullible people, saying that they are calling from the service provider. Then, they tell the person that there is a problem in the network and that the respective phone network will be down for a while. After sometime, another call will come asking the person to press 1 on his mobile phone to get the network back, soon after receiving an SMS.
“Once the phone user presses 1 button, the network becomes zero. Within seconds, they will empty your bank account and you will not know that your phone is hacked. Another way of fraud is asking you to do SIM Swap in the name of Aadhaar verification. Please do not share any OTP or send new SIM number to 121 unless you have the physical SIM with you. This may lead to misuse of your mobile number,’’ the police warned.
The police said one K Ashok Reddy had received a call from a mobile number 8897799204 and the caller told him that she was calling from Airtel. She asked him to use Airtel 4G SIM instead of 3G network, by swapping his SIM card. Sensing it was a fraud call, Ashok Reddy told the caller that he was using Vodafone SIM with 3G phone.