Noida woman loses Rs 27 lakh in SIM card ‘hacking’, here’s the big mistake she made

A 44-year-old woman recently fell victim to an eSIM fraud, losing around Rs 27 lakh to the scamsters. A first information report (FIR) has been registered at cybercrime police station, Sector 36, Noida following the complaint. Police have registered a case under sections 318(4) (cheating) and 319 (2) (cheating by personation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and IT Act on Thursday (September 5), reports HT.

How the scam happened

Jyotsana Bhatia, a resident of Sector 82 works at a private company.She told the police that she received a WhatsApp call on August 31 from an alleged customer care executive of a telecom company. The caller told her about new features of eSIM that should be activated in case her phone gets lost.
Vijay Kumar Gautam, station house officer (SHO), cybercrime branch, said “The suspect asked Bhatia to select the eSIM feature in the SIM’s application and enter a code received on the message. As she followed the suspect’s instruction, her mobile number was deactivated immediately”.
Bhatia was assured that a new SIM will be delivered to her on September 1.
“When she did not receive the SIM card on September 1, she dialled the customer care and was instructed to visit the service centre for a duplicate SIM,” the SHO added.

Scammers siphoned off Rs 27 lakh

Three days later, Bhatia got a new SIM, but received multiple messages from the bank, says the report.
“The suspect broke my fixed deposit, siphoned off money from two bank accounts, and extended a loan of ₹7.40 lakh in my name without my knowledge,” she alleged in the FIR.
According to the officer, the accused hanged her email ID to access her mobile banking via mobile number. “They siphoned off around ₹27 lakh in multiple transactions,” he added.