The complimentary mobile phone that the victim received from the fraudsters.
Credit: Special Arrangement
Bengaluru: Cyberfraudsters sent a bugged mobile phone to a senior citizen as a complimentary gift for his credit card and siphoned off Rs 2.8 crore from his account, the police said.
Rai, the 60-year-old victim, received a WhatsApp call in November 2024 from an unknown person, claiming to be a Citibank official. The fraudster claimed that a credit card was approved in Rai’s name and he had to change his current phone number to one from Airtel for further processing. Rai followed their instructions.
On December 1, the fraudsters sent a Redmi mobile phone worth Rs 10,000 to Rai’s Whitefield address. They contacted him again and instructed him to change his SIM to the mobile phone they had sent.
"I switched my SIM card to the mobile phone they had sent on the same day. After that I didn’t receive any notifications from my bank,” Rai told the police. “When I checked with my bank, they said Rs 2.8 crore was debited."
An FIR has been filed at the Whitefield CEN police station under relevant sections of the IT Act.
Shivakumar Gunare, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Whitefield), said the case was being investigated and prima facie, it appeared that the fraudsters had cloned the mobile phone to steal the data.