Fraud alert! How fraudsters are using e-SIMS to cheat you

At least 4 men in Hyderabad fell victim to an eSIM activation fraud and have collectively lost Rs 21 lakh, Gadgets Now reported.

Warning people of this latest fraud technique, the Hyderabad cyber crime police has issued an advisory against cybercriminals who are posing as customer care executives of telecom companies such as Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone and promising to give the customers an eSIM connection.

How are they working?

The victim of the fraud usually receives a warning saying that their SIM card will be blocked in 24 hours if their KYC is not updated. They will get a message saying “Dear customer, your SIM card will be blocked in 24 hours,” or “Please update your eKYC verification.”

Next, the fraudster will call the victim in the guise of a customer care executive and ask them to update their KYC details online by forwarding the email ID sent by the fraudster to the service provider’s customer care number.

The message asks the customer to click on the email ID and fill a form. The format of the message looks like automated messages from mobile service providers.

The email ID actually belongs to the fraudsters and using the customer, register their ID so that they can access all the bank information.

The fraudsters use the customers’ phone number to register their email ID and ask the customer to forward an eSIM request to the service provider.

The form asks the customer to fill in their name and banking details. Once the eSIM is activated, the activation QR code goes to the fraudsters’ registered email ID.

After which the fraudster can easily use their handset to scan the QR code and the physical SIM running in the customer’s phone gets blocked.

The fraudster can now register the eSIM with digital wallets and link it to the customer’s bank accounts.