Jamtara gang cons Delhi man of Rs 50 lakh: how scammers duped without asking for OTP

How scammers conned Delhi man without even asking OTP?

The victim, who serves as the director of a security company in south Delhi, encountered multiple blank and missed calls on his phone post 7 pm a few days back. As per the report, the victim avoided some calls, but when he did answer, there was dead air on the other end. However, when he checked his phone after a while, he was shocked to see notifications about Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) of fund transfers for almost Rs 50 lakh.

SIM swapping is thought to have been used to pull off the scam. The case has been filed. However, citing a source, the report mentioned that this instance represents one of the largest financial frauds against an individual documented from the capital.

Scammer alert: What is a SIM-swapping scam?

In this type of scam, fraudsters pose as the victim and ask their mobile provider for a new SIM card. This gives them access to the victim’s phone number and lets them listen in on calls or messages. It is a sort of cybercrime in which crooks go around two-factor authentication to access a victim’s mobile number. They call the SIM provider while posing as the original owner to accomplish this. Once the fraudulent SIM is turned on, they can access the victim’s mobile number and make and receive phone calls and text messages.

Using this relatively recent method of operation, the crooks appear to have targeted individuals across the nation in the recent past.

‘Jamtara: Sabka Number Ayega’, an Indian crime drama web series on Netflix, dealt with similar issues. The plot centred around a group of young individuals who live in the Jamtara district of Jharkhand and run a lucrative phishing scam out of their homes. It was made available on Netflix on January 10th 2020. On September 23th, 2022, the second season aired.