Mumbai doctor loses nearly Rs 11 lakh after an e-SIM upgrade, Know how
A well-known doctor in Mumbai lost nearly Rs 11 lakh while he was simply upgrading to a more convenient service.
Telecom users pay attention, you could be the target of online fraudster and lose money while doing some simple tasks such as upgrading to an e-SIM. In such a case, a well-known doctor in Mumbai lost nearly Rs 11 lakh while he was simply upgrading to a more convenient service. The incident took place in the second week of September.
The doctor revealed that he received a call from the fraudster who impersonated as a representative from his telecom provider. The fraudster then advised him to upgrade his physical SIM to an e-SIM. He enticed him to do the upgrade with various benefits such as convenience and flexibility.
In the end, he fell into the temptation of the fraudster and decided to upgrade his SIM into e-SIM. Then he followed the instructions and opened his telecom provider’s official app to place an e-SIM request. After that the caller asked for an OTP which he received via a message. Soon after he provided the OTP, the caller told him that his physical SIM would be deactivated and the e-SIM activated within 24 hours.
However, instead of a upgrade, his email password was changed. He got the shock of his life as Rs 10.5 lakh was transferred from his bank account to multiple destinations without his permission.
The doctor immediately registered a complaint with the cyber cell of the Mumbai Police. Investigations led to the arrest of a hospital office boy in Pune, who had allegedly rented out his bank account to channel the stolen money.
What is an e-SIM and e-SIM upgrade scam ?
A Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) is your phone’s unique digital ID that connects you to the mobile network. An embedded SIM (e-SIM) is its digital version, built directly into the phone or smartwatch. It eliminates the need for a physical SIM card or tray.
The fraudsters scam people out of their money by posing as telecom staff and claim there’s an issue with the victim’s SIM and offering to upgrade to e-sim. Then they took the deactivate the original SIM and activate a duplicate e-SIM on their own device by using the OTP, which they claim is for the upgrade. With the e-sim, they get access to bank account easily by changing email and bank passwords. Then they carry out the money transfer without any hurdles.
