A 44-year-old woman recently fell victim to an eSIM scam, losing approximately Rs 27 lakh to fraudsters. Following her complaint, a first information report (FIR) was lodged at the cybercrime police station in Sector 36, Noida. The police registered the case under sections 318(4) (cheating) and 319(2) (cheating by personation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the IT Act on Thursday, September 5, according to Hindustan Times.
Jyotsana Bhatia, a resident of Sector 82 and an employee at a private company, reported that on August 31, she received a WhatsApp call from someone posing as a customer care executive from her telecom provider. The caller informed her about new eSIM features that should be activated in case her phone was ever lost.
According to Vijay Kumar Gautam, station house officer (SHO) of the cybercrime branch, “The suspect asked Bhatia to select the eSIM feature in the SIM’s application and enter a code received via message. As she followed the suspect’s instructions, her mobile number was deactivated immediately.”
Bhatia was told she would receive a new SIM card by September 1. When it didn’t arrive, she contacted customer care and was advised to visit the service center to obtain a duplicate SIM, the SHO added.
After receiving her new SIM card three days later, Bhatia began receiving several messages from her bank. According to her FIR, “The suspect broke my fixed deposit, siphoned off money from two bank accounts, and extended a loan of ₹7.40 lakh in my name without my knowledge.”
The SHO explained that the scammers had altered her email ID, allowing them to access her mobile banking services via her mobile number. “They siphoned off around ₹27 lakh in multiple transactions,” he added.
