A case of SIM-swapping fraud has come to light in Rohini after a woman’s mobile number was fraudulently ported, leading to unauthorised credit card transactions worth Rs48,864. Two men have been arrested in connection with the crime.
The complaint was lodged by a resident of Sector-6, Rohini, who noticed three suspicious transactions — Rs2,627, Rs20,550 and Rs25,687 — on January 30. She later discovered that both her mobile number and her son’s number had been deactivated days earlier.
According to police, the fraud began on January 22 when the woman was returning to Delhi from Kanpur after attending a religious function. During the journey, she and her son met a man who introduced himself as Sachin Kumar Gupta from Burari. He was accompanied by a young woman posing as his sister-in-law. The duo allegedly gained their trust and briefly took their phones under the pretext of making a call.
Additional Commissioner of Police (Rohini) Rajeev Ranjan said the accused used the brief access to initiate SIM-porting requests, generate UPC codes, and delete confirmation messages. On January 24, two new SIM cards linked to the victims’ numbers were reportedly issued in another name after being ported to a different telecom operator.
Once the new SIM cards were activated, the accused allegedly accessed banking and financial apps connected to the number. Police said the number was linked to a credit card on an app that enabled OTP-based authentication. After testing the card with a small transaction of Rs2,627, the accused transferred Rs20,550 to one bank account and Rs25,687 to another.
Following technical surveillance and tracking the money trail, cyber police arrested Nitin Kumar Gupta, 23, along with his brother Sachin, 26, from Nathupura in Burari. A mobile phone and an ATM card allegedly used in the crime were recovered.
Further investigation into the case is ongoing.
