Bengaluru, January 23, 2025: An IT expert in Bengaluru has fallen victim to a sophisticated scam involving a free mobile phone offer, resulting in a loss of 28 million Indian Rupees.
The scam began when the 60-year-old victim received a call from a fraudster offering him a high-end smartphone worth Rs100,000 free of cost, provided he purchased a SIM card. Trusting the offer, the victim bought the SIM card and received the promised phone.
However, the pre-configured smartphone was embedded with malware and spyware, enabling the scammer to access the victim’s banking details, including OTPs and passwords. Using this access, the fraudster drained the victim’s bank account of INR28 million (approximately PKR90 million).
The scam came to light when the victim received a call from his bank, alerting him to the unauthorized transactions.
