Sim Swap Fraud — Advocate at Asansol Court

The fraudster first collects your number, your bank name and sometimes your date of birth from a data leak, a phishing call or a discarded document. He then approaches the telecom operator's retailer with false identity proof and obtains a duplicate SIM, claiming the original was lost. Your real SIM then goes dead. From that moment the one-time passwords for your banking, wallet and card transactions land on the fraudster's phone instead of yours, letting him drain the account.

In SIM cloning, the number itself is copied onto another card, so incoming calls and messages are duplicated to the fraudster. In both cases the victim usually notices the network failure only after the damage is already done. The first clue is often an SMS alert of a transfer you did not make, arriving once the network returns to your handset. By then the money may already have moved through several accounts.

Call your telecom operator and report the loss of network and the possibility of a duplicate SIM being issued. Ask them to block the number and to issue a fresh SIM only after proper in-person verification against your identity documents. Then inform your bank immediately, in writing, on its helpline and by email, that unauthorised transactions have occurred and that your SIM was compromised. Ask the bank to freeze net banking and UPI, to block the card, and to place a lien on the account.

Change every password from a different, safe device that is not linked to the compromised number. Do not use the compromised number for any one-time password until a fresh SIM is activated in your name. Note the exact time the network failed and the times at which the fraudulent debits were made. These timestamps prove that the transactions happened while your own SIM was dead, which is central to the refund claim against the bank.

The Reserve Bank of India's circular on limiting the liability of customers in unauthorised electronic banking transactions sets out who bears the loss. Where the fraud is due to the negligence of the bank or a third-party breach and the customer reports without delay, the customer's liability is limited to zero. If the customer's own negligence contributed, liability may be shared, but the bank must still act fairly and must not insist on a police complaint before processing the claim.

Write to the bank's nodal officer, and then to the banking ombudsman if the bank refuses or delays beyond the prescribed period. Keep every acknowledgement and every reply. The bank will ask for a police complaint; file one, but do not let its absence be used as an excuse to delay your refund. The RBI circular is a strong lever in your favour, and many account holders have succeeded simply by citing it clearly and persistently in writing.

File a written complaint at the cyber crime police station for Paschim Bardhaman or your Asansol police station. Set out the network failure, the fraudulent debits, the amounts and the beneficiary accounts in chronological order. Attach bank statements, SMS alerts and the telecom complaint number. Under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, a zero FIR can be registered and later transferred to the correct police station, so jurisdiction is never a barrier to registering your case.

Report the beneficiary accounts and the UPI IDs prominently so that the police can move quickly to freeze the money before it is withdrawn. The cyber cell can also write to the telecom operator for call and SIM records, which help trace who obtained the duplicate SIM. Cheating by personation using a computer resource and identity theft are punishable under the Information Technology Act, while cheating is punishable under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.

Electronic records such as bank statements, SMS alerts and telecom logs are proved in court under the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023. Keep the original emails, the bank's written responses and the telecom complaint reference safely. If the bank still refuses to refund, you can escalate to the banking ombudsman and, if necessary, sue the bank for the unauthorised debit in the Asansol civil court, seeking recovery of the amount with interest and costs.

A claim against the bank rests on the contract of banking and the RBI circular; a claim against the fraudster rests on cheating and on recovery of money had and received. An Asansol lawyer can run both tracks together, one to recover from the bank and one to pursue the offender. Time is critical, so start the bank and telecom complaints on the very day you discover the loss, and keep copies of everything.