Man receives multiple blank calls, Rs 50 lakh stolen from account shortly afterwards: Report

According to a report in The Times of India, the victim received several calls in less than two hours and soon discovered several RTGS transaction messages. 

Digital Desk: Most people in the country have heard the constant reminder to never share personal information, including OTPs and PINs, but what if you only get calls but can't hear anything on the other end? Should you be wary of them as well? The answer is, of course, you should.

A director of a security services firm in Delhi recently lost Rs 50 lakh to thieves who stole from him solely through blank calls, making it one of the largest cybercrime frauds in terms of value where an individual was targeted from the national capital.

According to a report in The Times of India, the victim received several calls in less than two hours and soon discovered several RTGS transaction messages. Because he couldn't hear anything on the other end, the victim said he ignored the calls.

According to the report, approximately Rs 12 lakh was transferred to one account, that of one Bhaskar Mandal, while Rs 10 lakh each went to other accounts and Rs 4.6 lakh was transferred to one Avijit Giri.

Cops believe the scammers used a 'SIM swap' technique, in which scammers exploit a flaw in the two-factor authentication system, in which the second step is a text message or a phone call. "Scammers also contact people's mobile phone carriers and trick them into activating a SIM card in this fraud." When this occurs, they seize control of the phone "a police officer told the publication

"The crooks may have also been listening to the OTPs on the phone via a parallel call, "Another office informed TOI. However, they are also looking into other possibilities, such as a phone hijacking

According to the TOI report, the masterminds of the con may be based in Jharkhand's Jamtara, and those whose accounts the funds were transferred to may have simply provided them for a fee or on rent.

This report of fraud follows a large-scale cyberttack: recently, a ransomware attack on the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi rendered its servers inoperable for at least seven days.

On November 30, a week after the ransomware attack on AIIMS, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) experienced approximately 6,000 hacking attempts in 24 hours.