E-SIM scam: Mumbai doctor loses Rs 10.5 lakh to cyber fraudsters

Mumbai: In a shocking case of cyber fraud, a doctor from South Mumbai allegedly lost Rs 10.5 lakh after fraudsters tricked him into converting his physical SIM card into an eSIM. The fraudsters then gained control of his phone and email, allowing them to siphon money from his account.

Following this, the doctor filed a complaint against the fraudsters. Based on the complaint, the police arrested a 23-year-old man, who received part of the defrauded amount in his bank account. He was an office boy working at a private hospital in Pune.

However, the police have launched a detailed investigation into the case to nab the mastermind behind the scam.

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As per the TOI news report, the incident took place after the doctor received a phone call on September 14 from a person who claimed to be from a telecom company. The caller asked him whether he would like to convert his physical SIM card to an eSIM (embedded SIM, a digital SIM installed in a device such as a smartphone, tablet or laptop, provided it is compatible).

A Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) is a unique digital ID for a phone that connects the mobile to the network. An embedded SIM (e-SIM) is a digital version of this, built directly into the phone or smartwatch. This eliminates the need for a separate physical SIM card.

Trusting the caller, the doctor followed the instructions and opened the telecom company’s official app. He received a one-time password (OTP) and shared it with the caller. He was told that within 24 hours, his physical SIM would be deactivated and the eSIM would start functioning.

However, nothing changed that day. Two days later, on September 16, the doctor got an alert that his email account had been accessed at 8:39 am from another device. The password and recovery details of his email account had been changed.

Realising something was wrong, he rushed to his bank to block his account and prevent fraudulent transactions. But when he reached, it was too late as Rs 10.5 lakh had already been transferred from his bank account.

When he rushed to the other branch, he learned that the amount had been immediately transferred out through IMPS and UPI to multiple destinations. Following this, the doctor filed a complaint.

During the investigation, the police discovered that after deactivating the doctor’s physical SIM card, the accused activated the doctor’s eSIM on his own device. He then fraudulently accessed the doctor’s email account and carried out the bank transactions.

A team supervised by DCP (cyber) Purushottam Karad and comprising senior inspector Nandkumar Gopale and inspector Suresh Bhoye traced some of the doctor’s funds to the bank account of Rohan Waghmode, one of the accused.

After being interrogated, the accused confessed to giving his account “on rent” to cyber fraudsters, which means that he had handed over his passbook, chequebook, and debit cards to them to receive defrauded sums from victims. He was given a commission of 5% for every transaction credited to his account. In the doctor’s case, about Rs 34,000 was received into his account.

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