LUCKNOW: Next time if you get a missed call starting with +92;
#90 or #09, don't show the courtesy of calling back because chances are it
would lead to your SIM card being cloned. The telecom service providers are now
issuing alerts to subscribers —particularly about the series mentioned above as
the moment one press the call button after dialing the above number, someone at
the other end will get your phone and SIM card cloned.
According to reports, more than one lakh subscribers have fallen
prey to this new telecom terror attack as the frequency of such calls continues
to grow. Intelligence agencies have reportedly confirmed to the service
providers particularly in UP West telecom division that such a racket is not
only under way but the menace is growing fast. "We are sure there must be
some more similar combinations that the miscreants are using to clone the
handsets and all the information stored in them," an intelligence officer
told TOI.
General Manager (GM) BSNL, RV Verma, said the department had
already issued alerts to all the broadband subscribers and now alert SMSes were
being issued to other subscribers as well.
As per Rakshit Tandon, an IT expert who also teaches at the
police academy (UP), the crooks can use other combination of numbers as well
while making a call. "It is better not to respond to calls received from
unusual calling numbers," says Tandon. "At the same time one should
avoid storing specifics of their bank account, ATM/ Credit/Debit card numbers
and passwords in their phone memory because if one falls a prey to such crooks
then the moment your cell phone or sim are cloned, the data will be available
to the crooks who can withdraw amount from your bank accounts as well,"
warns Punit Misra; an IT expert who also owns a consultancy in Lucknow.
The menace that threatens to steal the subscriber's information
stored in the phone or external memory (sim, memory & data cards) has a
very scary side as well. Once cloned, the culprits can well use the cloned copy
to make calls to any number they wish to. This exposes the subscribers to the
threat of their connection being used for terror calls. Though it will be
established during the course of investigations that the cellphone has been
cloned and misused elsewhere, it is sure to land the subscriber under quite
some pressure till the time the fact about his or her phone being cloned and
misused is established, intelligence sources said.
"It usually starts with a miss call from a number starting
with + 92. The moment the subscriber calls back on the miss call, his or her
cell phone is cloned. In case the subscribers takes the call before it is
dropped as a miss call then the caller on the other end poses as a call center
executive checking the connectivity and call flow of the particular service
provider. The caller then asks the subscriber to press # 09 or # 90 call back
on his number to establish that the connectivity to the subscriber was
seamless," says a victim who reported the matter to the BSNL office at
Moradabad last week. "The moment I redialed the caller number, my account
balance lost a sum of money. Thereafter, in the three days that followed every
time I got my cell phone recharged, the balance would be reduced to single
digits within the next few minutes," she told the BSNL officials.
Source:
P V Thomas Varghese &
Ronald D'Silva,
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Thank You Very Much For Your Precious Time.PV
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