Mangaluru: A 43-year-old man allegedly lost nearly Rs 24 lakh after a cyber fraudster posing as a customer care executive convinced him to follow instructions purportedly to upgrade his sim from 4G to 5G.According to the complaint, the victim received a call on July 8. The caller claimed to be a customer care executive and told him that his existing 4G sim needed to be upgraded to 5G. The caller also allegedly shared some of the complainant’s personal details, gaining his trust. After the complainant agreed to the upgrade, the caller told him that he would receive a message on Gmail and asked him to select ‘yes’. He was also told that his mobile network would remain inactive for a few hours during the upgrade process.Following the caller’s instructions, the complainant allegedly selected ‘yes’ for all options in the message he received. When his SIM remained inactive, he contacted the caller using another mobile number. The accused attributed the problem to a server issue, and assured him that the service would be restored.The complainant waited throughout the day, but the sim remained inactive. The caller continued to give similar assurances until the evening of July 9.Growing suspicious, the complainant visited a local service provider’s office, where staff informed him that the company does not upgrade sim cards through such phone calls. He immediately removed the inactive SIM from his phone. When the complainant visited his bank the next day, he allegedly found that the fraudster had transferred Rs 3 lakh from his bank accounts. The accused had also allegedly availed a Rs 9 lakh loan using a credit card, and transferred the loan amount to the complainant’s bank account, before moving the money to other accounts.Further, using three different credit cards, he transferred Rs 4.1 lakh, Rs 3 lakh and Rs 5 lakh. He alleged that a total of Rs 23,98,138 was transferred from his bank accounts and credit cards between July 8 and 9 without his knowledge. A case has been lodged at the CEN crime police station.
