Pune: A 47-year-old man in Pune was duped of Rs 13 lakh by a caller who offered to help him update his SIM card but swapped the card instead. The fraud took place between May 6 and 7, 2020 at Spine Road, Chikhali area. The incidence came to light after Deepak Sahebrao Suryavanshi (47), a resident of Spine Road, Chikhali lodged a complaint at Chikhali Police Station on Saturday.
The police have registered a case against an unidentified mobile caller and have booked a case under the relevant sections of Indian Penal Code as well as under The Information Technology, Act.
According to the police officials, "The complainant had received a call by a customer representative of and he was speaking to him in Hindi. The suspect was speaking from an unknown number. He personated as he is speaking from the reputed cellular network, Noida. He claimed that the SIM card is 3G and needs to be updated to 4G. Otherwise, the SIM card will be turned off. Based on which suspect then shared his mobile with the complainant by sharing a message on his mobile and asked him to send it to the SIM card company. "
The police officials added, "The company asked for consent to update the SIM card. The plaintiff consented. The SIM card will be deactivated on May 6 and will start at 3 pm on May 7, the company said. But on May 7, the SIM card did not start. Therefore, the plaintiff contacted the suspect. He claimed that the work is in progress. The SIM card will be activated in an hour."
The police informed, "Complainant became suspicious as the relevant mobile number was connected to the bank account. He tried to open a bank account online. However, it did not open. He contacted the bank's customer care to closed temporary his Account. But in the meantime, Rs 10 lakh were transferred from his account to various accounts and the plaintiff also came to know from the customer care that there is a balance of Rs 3.43 lakh in the account."
Senior police inspector Satish Mane of Chikhali police station is probing the case.
