News Crime Man loses mobile phone, later gets SMS alert of ₹4 lakh transaction

Man loses mobile phone, later gets SMS alert of ₹4 lakh transaction

Losing mobile phone cost a Jammu man over Rs 4 lakh recently. Fraudsters used his phone's mobile banking app to siphon off over Rs 4 lakh from his bank account. Police have arrested three people in this regard but the story has a lesson for all those who use mobile for monetary transactions in this increasingly digital world.

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Three people were booked on Wednesday for stealing Rs 4,13,450 from a man using the MPay app on his mobile phone after lifting the device, police said.

An FIR was registered against Gagan Arora and his wife Manpreet Kaur of Punjab, and Vishal Goyal of Agra (UP), an officer of the Crime Branch said.

The victim, Sader-Ud Din Zargar of J&K's Ramban district, lodged a complaint with the Crime Branch, in which he said he was travelling to Jammu from Delhi on April 17 by the UHP Express when he realised that his mobile phone was missing, the officer said.

The mobile phone contained two SIM cards besides his personal information. He had lodged a missing report in this regard at the railway police station in Jammu.

The complainant procured a duplicate SIM card and on inserting it in a mobile phone, received a number of messages of bank transactions, revealing fraudulent transfer of Rs 4,13,450 from his account through his netbanking app MPay, the officer said.

On the basis of the complaint, the Crime Branch, Jammu, initiated an inquiry and established that the complainant was actually duped of his money by the fraudsters who stole his mobile phone and used his personal information stored in the device.

A case has been registered and investigation is on but there is a lesson in the story. 

You must never store your vital account information, example your account number, your debit and credit card PINs, on your mobile phone.

Must avoid using mobile online shopping from public WiFi systems.