HYDERABAD: Cyber fraudsters using the sim swapping technique siphoned Rs 25 lakh from the accounts of a contractor in the city. The amounts were transferred to different accounts operated from different parts of the country and were withdrawn from ATM centers located at West Bengal and the North East.
The victim, a resident of Ramanthapur in the city, noticed that he was not able to make outgoing calls and approached the customer care of the telecom service provider and complained of the issue. When he was asked to provide identity details for confirmation, he was told that the SIM was already blocked by the ‘original user’ and the alternate number has also been changed.
Two days later, he found that a total of Rs 25 lakh was transferred to different accounts from his two current accounts in two public sector banks. He immediately approached the police. Inquiries so far revealed that the amounts were withdrawn immediately after the transfer during late night of Thursday and Friday.
Police suspect that the cyber fraudsters have used the sim swap technique to siphon off the amount. Police suspect that the accused had accessed the victim’s mobile number and other identity details illegally, and had used it to get a new SIM card activated even without approaching the service provider’s store.
Police suspect that using the new SIM, the accused reset all the net banking credentials of the victim’s accounts and siphoned money from them.