Kolkata: A woman doctor from Karaya was allegedly cheated of about Rs 11 lakh in a SIM-swap fraud while she was in Ahmedabad to attend a conference in Dec, police said. The case is being investigated as part of a wider rise in SIM-related cyber frauds, they added.
According to the complaint, the doctor was travelling and staying in Ahmedabad when her SIM, linked to her mobile number, suddenly went out of service on Dec 14. She reported that incoming and outgoing calls stopped working, prompting her to seek an e-SIM replacement. She then received a call from a person claiming to be from the service provider's customer care. The caller allegedly told her that her SIM would be suspended for the next 24 hours for "upgradation" of services and instructed her to visit a service provider's store. She provided an alternative number for call forwarding, but later found that the forwarding did not activate.
Police said the complainant later realised that she was induced to share credentials during the purported customer-care interaction. Investigators suspect the information was used to execute a SIM swap, allowing the accused to take control of the victim's mobile number and intercept banking alerts and authentication messages.
On Dec 16, after connecting her phone to the hotel Wi-Fi, the doctor received emails indicating money deductions of around Rs 10.4 lakh, transactions and loan registration linked to her accounts, the complaint said. She then contacted the toll-free numbers of her two private banks to block her accounts and prevent further debits.