Pune: Cyber cheats swindled a hotel guest of ₹22.80 lakh via SIM swap fraud during his stay, deactivating his SIM to access his bank funds.
Pune: Cyber cheats defrauded a five-star hotel guest of ₹22.80 lakh in an apparent SIM swap fraud case. The crime took place between December 6 and December 8 during the victim’s stay at the facility in the city.
Cyber cheats defrauded a five-star hotel guest of ₹22.80 lakh in an apparent SIM swap fraud case. ((PIC FOR REPRESENTATION))
According to the police, the complainant’s SIM card got deactivated and fraudsters took remote control of the mobile phone, got a bank loan sanctioned, took the money from his bank account and credit card, cheating him of ₹22.80 lakh.
The police lodged an FIR against the accused on January 8 under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Sections 319 (2) and 318 (4), and Sections 66 C and D of the Information Technology Act (IT Act). According to the cyber crime department, a SIM swap happens when cyber cheats take over control of the phone by tricking the mobile service provider to connect it to a SIM card in their possession. With the help of the new SIM, fraudsters can get one time password (OTP) and other alerts required to carry out financial transactions through the victim’s bank account.