Mumbai: In one of the biggest cyber fraud cases registered this year, a steel trading company suffered a loss of Rs 7.42 crore after cybercriminals hacked the owner’s Airtel mobile number, accessed the company’s bank account, and siphoned off the money. The North Cyber Cell of Mumbai police has started a thorough investigation to trace the money trail.
According to the police, on Dec 22, the company owner, Vikas Gupta of Srikrishna Steel, received an SMS from Airtel stating: “Your SIM change request has been received. If you did not request this change, please SMS ‘NOSIM’ to 121 or call 121 immediately.” Realising something was wrong, the owner contacted Airtel Gallery, where they were informed that their SIM card was hacked.
Fearing unauthorised access to their bank account, they checked their online banking records. To their shock, they discovered that large amounts of money were being transferred out of their account.
The fraudulent transactions continued until the early hours of Dec 23, by which time cybercriminals had already withdrawn Rs 7.42 crore, misusing the overdraft facility. While Rs 1.37 crore was deposited back into the account, the net loss amounted to Rs 7.42 crore.
Gupta immediately informed the bank’s officials who froze all debit transactions.
The police are investigating the unknown fraudsters who hacked the SIM card, gained access to online banking, and transferred funds to multiple bank accounts. Explaining the modus operandi, a police official said, “This is a case of SIM swap fraud, where criminals deactivate a victim’s SIM card and reactivate it on another device, gaining access to bank OTPs and personal data. Now we are looking at how he got access to the victim’s bank details and his mobile number, and whether any insider helped him.”
Police officials are urging businesses and individuals to immediately report unexpected SIM swap messages to their telecom provider.