Earlier this month a Facebook post of one Shashwat Gupta’s went viral!
The post explains his ordeal on how he lost his hard earned money to a scam where his Airtel SIM was cloned and his bank (ICICI) failed to protect him. While it is natural to feel for anyone who has lost money to a fraud, his story appears a bit twisted (incomplete?) and is full of Not-so-Wise steps. Let us analyse it a bit:
Not-so-Wise Step #1
Shashwat got a call from someone (claiming to be from Airtel) and was given an ultimatum to link his Aadhaar card with his SIM. The caller did not ask for his Aadhaar number but his SIM number.
While fraudulent attempts with respect to OTP and Credit Card CVV codes are common, the SIM number trick appears to be new. However, for someone who is exposed to internet and how modern cyber security works (at least at a very basic level), this call should have ringed alarm bells for Shashwat. Why would one provide SIM number when Aadhaar linkage is the issue? Also how hard is it to check the deadline for Aadhaar linking for mobile connections and procedure for the same?
A simple search on Airtel’s website throws a detailed FAQ on the Aadhaar linkage (https://www.airtel.in/link-aadhaar-mobile)
Not-so-Wise Step #2
Shashwat realized his SIM has been cloned and money is being moved out of his account. He called the ICICI call centre, got an SR and then waited!
While Shashwat claims he realized the money is being moved from his account, his first reaction was correct – call the bank and register the case. However, what the post doesn’t mention is what he asked the bank to do.
Yours truly was once mugged at a knife point in Europe in 2013 and all his money and wallet was taken from him. All that was needed was one call to the banks and credit card companies to suspend any further activities in the account. In fact suspending all transactions in an account is very easy to do and the account remains suspended till the account holder doesn’t visit the bank physically to activate the account.
In absence of any details on his SR, it can be assumed Shashwat just registered the case and waited.
Not-so-Wise Step #3
The post mentions that ICICI did not do anything after ‘loot’ on day 1
Well ICICI could have suspended the account if Shashwat had asked for it. Considering the fraud continued on day 2 means the account was active and so was the SIM.
It is extremely weird that Shashwat allowed both of these to remain active while there was some balance in his account. What made him not move the money out of his account or suspend the account remains a mystery in the post.
Not-so-Wise Step #4
Shashwat goes ahead then calls out ICICI for their weak systems and how it is not protecting the customers
If Shashwat did indeed lose his money after raising the issue, ICICI does have few tough questions to answer. However, the onus of protecting our bank account against fraud lies with both the bank and account holder. Blaming the bank for everything when a customer was unwise enough to pass his SIM details is certainly not the right thing to do.
Financial Express jumps in with a click-bait headline
Financial Express woke up to this news and used it to create a click-bait headline around it. The headline almost scares people from linking their Aadhaar Cards with the mobile number (http://www.financialexpress.com/india-news/aadhaar-sim-linking-fraud-how-this-man-lost-rs-1-3-lakh-from-his-salary-account-is-a-big-lesson-for-all-of-us/894488/). The article doesn’t have any analysis and goes with just screenshots of Shashwat’s post, Airtel’s and ICICI’s replies. There is a disclaimer at the end that the article doesn’t vouch for the authenticity of the post, however the headline clearly tries to showcase Aadhaar-linkage as the culprit. How we wish mainstream media was bit more responsible with their fear mongering!
It is sad Shashwat lost his money and we wish him all the very best for his battles with ICICI and the local Police. We will also like to take this opportunity to request our readers to be extra careful with the information they share with others especially around their SIM numbers, OTP, and CVVs. At any instance of a fraud, please suspend ALL your accounts and Credit Cards – Money locked in an account is any day better than losing it all.