Fraudsters are coming up with new techniques each day, to cheat innocent people and steal their hard earned money. Recently, a gang of fraudsters duped a Delhi resident of Rs 13 Lakhs. The fraudster had called the victim and introduced himself as a representative from a telecom service provider.

He was told that within half an hour, his SIM card would be blocked as the KYC was not updated. He was made to believe that the only option was following the instructions given by this representative.

A text message was sent to the victim and he was asked to copy paste the text and send it to the official customer care number. As soon as he sent the message, his SIM card was blocked.

The message that was forwarded by him was a 16-digit number of the new SIM card which the fraudsters had obtained. After blocking his old SIM card, the fraudsters got access to all the bank account details, OTP and security passwords. Using all these details the money was squeezed out from the victim’s account.

This fraud is known as SIM Swap Fraud and it is increasing each day. Many cases have been registered against this fraud all over the country. Many people have lost Lakhs of rupees to this fraud. So, you have to be very careful when you get a call from unknown people.

See Also: A Person Cheated By An Innovative Online Scam

These are some tips which can help you save yourself from SIM Swap Fraud:

1. In case you are not receiving any calls or texts all of a sudden, contact your service provider and check what has happened.

2. Do not disclose your personal banking information like card number, CVV, personal identification number (PIN) and Internet banking password to anyone. Banks never ask you to provide any banking details over the phone.

3. If you receive a call from someone, who claims to help you link Aadhaar with your mobile number, kindly ignore such calls and do not provide any personal information to them.

4. Make sure you provide the email id to the banks, along with your mobile number to get the notification of each and every transaction.

5. Do not reply or click on the link provided in suspicious emails. Also, banks will not ask you to send your personal banking details over mail.

6. Make sure to check your banking transactions often. If you find any suspicious transactions, inform your bank immediately. 

7. Change your password regularly and make sure it is strong and unique. Your password should be a mixture of small letters, capital letters and numbers.

8. Never save your password and personal bank details on a shared computer.

9. Keep software updated on your phone and system.