Jamtara-like attack: Man loses Rs 50 lakh with just fraudulent missed calls; know how

A director of a security services company in south Delhi lost Rs 50 lakh to cyber fraudsters who stole the money by repeatedly making blank and missed calls to his cellphone. It's interesting that they didn't request an OTP.

A few days ago, the victim got a flurry of calls between 7pm and 8:45pm. While no one was speaking on the other side, he picked up some and ignored others. He only discovered messages about RTGS (instant fund transfer) transactions worth nearly half a crore when he checked his phone.

Initial investigations suggested that the fraud's planners might be based in Jharkhand's Jamtara region. According to reports, the recipients may only be the account holders who may have rented out their accounts to the thieves.

Police reportedly believe the thieves may have performed a "SIM swap." They might have called in to start the RTGS transfer and activate the OTP. They might have heard the OTP mentioned in an adjacent call's IVR.

“In this fraud, scammers also contact people’s mobile phone carriers and trick them into activating a SIM card. Once this happens, they take control over the phone,” The Times of India quoted an officer as saying.

Using this relatively recent method of operation, the cyberthugs appear to have targeted individuals across the nation. 

Despite Jamtara-illustrious Karmatand's past, its fame today is largely due to the popular web series "Jamtara," which was set there and focused on massive cybercrimes.

A cyber police station was established in 2018 to manage the cybercrime coming from Jamtara. Despite the fact that more than 250 online criminals have been detained since then, cybercrime is still rife. The main cause is that the criminals once they are released on bail resume running this enterprise.