Cyber criminals clone SoBo resident’s SIM card, dupe her of lakhs

Photo: Representational

Local Press Co 5-point Snippet

1. Malabar Hill police have registered an FIR against an unknown miscreant for duping a senior citizen of over Rs. 11 lakh.

2. According to the complaint, the cyber criminals started by cloning the SIM card an affluent Napean Sea Road resident Anita Garware. After cloning the 72-year-old’s SIM card, they called her bank and enquired about her Credit Card details. Since the call was made from an approved number, the miscreants managed to get hold of the card details.

3. Upon learning that the card had a very high limit, they started booking flight tickets online. The tickets were booked for various destinations and cost an estimated Rs 11 lakh. Since the spending pattern was not in-sync with the previous transactions, the bank called Garware to verify the details. During the call, they informed her about the transactions and mentioned that they had to call on the landline since her cell phone was not reachable.

4. Realizing that something was amiss, Garware removed her SIM card from her phone and tried calling her number from her landline. To her surprize, the call got connected and a lady, pretending to be Garware, answered the phone. The senior citizen tactfully asked a few questions about the online ticket purchases and ended the call.

5. Immediately after making the call, she approached Malabar Hill police station and filed a complaint. The police have registered a case against the unknown woman under sections 419 (cheating by personation) and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code, and sections 66 (C) and (D) of the Information Technology Act.