Mumbai Police's cyber cell recovers Rs 4.65 crores in in 4 hours in SIM Swap Scam

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Mumbai Police's cyber cell recovered Rs 4.65 crores in 4 hours out of Rs 7.50 crores in that were allegedly duped by scamsters using the SIM swap method.

The alert owner of a private company called the cyber helpline number on December 23, and the cyber police acted quickly, recovering the money in 4 hours.

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Efforts are being made to recover the remaining amount.

Explaining the SIM swap method, DCP Datta Nalawade told mid-day, "Cybercriminals illegally gain access to the SIM card of the owner and then, using the compromised SIM, the fraudsters gain unauthorized access to the company's bank account and dupe the victim."

The incident occurred in Kandivali area of Mumbai where cybercriminals illegally accessed the SIM card of the owner of a private company. Using the compromised SIM, the fraudsters gained unauthorised access to the company's bank account and siphoned off Rs 7.50 crores through multiple transactions to various bank accounts. The complainant became aware of the fraudulent activities through email notifications and immediately contacted the 1930 Cyber Helpline to report the incident.

PSI Mangesh Bhoir explained to mid-day how fraudsters commit SIM swapping and how citizens can protect themselves:

Procedure of Financial Investment by SIM Swap:

By befriending various businessmen, eminent persons, etc., through social media, information about their personal and work life is obtained through social engineering. Information is also collected using viruses, APK files, or malware.

Personal and financial information is collected by sending certain phishing links and asking them to click on them. Sometimes fraud agencies also buy banks' databases.

Once the information is received, mobile companies are requested to block the SIM by creating a fake identity card or activate a new e-SIM.

When the mobile companies give a new SIM, financial transactions are carried out by getting the OTP on it. Since the new SIM card is in the fraudster's possession, the OTP goes to them, allowing further transactions. In this way, the money in the account is diverted to multiple accounts, the police official said.

Appeal to Citizens as cops urge people to take preventive measures:

To avoid financial loss due to SIM swapping, email alerts should be implemented for each bank account in addition to SMS alerts.

In case of sudden closure of a personal or company SIM card linked to the bank account, the concerned bank should be informed to disconnect it from the account.

SIM swapping usually happens on public holidays (generally on Saturday, Sunday) during consecutive holidays when it is difficult to contact the mobile gallery and banks in person. In such cases, quick steps need to be taken by contacting customer care.

Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): Enable 2FA for your social media accounts. This can help prevent unauthorised access to your social media accounts by strangers.

Regularly change your internet/mobile backup password after a certain period of time.