'The People Who We Think Are Securing Us Are Actually Screwing Us': Aadhaar-SIM Fraud

MUMBAI: And in a blitz, my salary account was looted.

Hi guys! I just lost an amount of Rupees 1.3 lacs from my ICICI Bank salary account. A fraud, claiming to be from Airtel, gave me an ultimatum that Airtel would deactivate my SIM and block my number forever as I had not linked my Aadhar card to my SIM. He urged me to message my SIM card number to 121 (Official Airtel Service Number) and my SIM would be reactivated without any hassle. Little did I know that the fraudster would clone my SIM and loot all my hard earned money and also take away Investments (Fixed Deposits) that I had planned on using during the worst times of my life.

Is this all that was required to break my ICICI Bank Account? Is that how vulnerable technology have left us? I always thought that our accounts are well protected by layers of security. I was under the impression that a person would require my account details or debit card or some sensitive information that only I have, that I have been safeguarding every minute of my life, to break my account. But the truth is all that sensitive stuff is already floating around the criminal world waiting to be raided, as our beloved banks like ICICI Bank haven’t been able to keep what must only be ours, OURS!

It is unbelievable how easy it has become to steal from our accounts. All the fraudsters are doing is trying every trick they can think of to get that one tiny key that would break open a safe that seem to be safeguarded by hundred different locks.

The saddest part of this is, after the loot on day one, ICICI Bank was not able to protect the balance amount. Even after 18 hours of raising Service Request ( S/R 497438380 ) and repeated follow ups on customer care and branch, the Bank was not able to freeze my balance and as a result early next morning the fraudster was easily able to walk away with the remainder amount. Dear ICICI Bank, are your services supposed to end in crisis or are you supposed relieve the customer's’ grievances and prevent further damage?

ICICI Bank needs to understand that a fraudster breaks much more than an account with his activities, he breaks a person's’ life.

I feel that the Bank has failed to protect my account effectively and are completely responsible for my losses. I hence demand ICICI Bank to refund every single penny I’ve lost in this incident.

I would also like to speak out to my friends here, guys please be careful and wary of these frauds. The people who we think are securing us, are actually the ones screwing us.

This is the Facebook post of Shashwat Gupta,who lost Rs 1.3 lakhs from his ICICI bank account while supplying particulars to link his mobile telephone account to Aadhar. Currently all mobile phone users have been receiving messages and phone calls from the mobile service operators to link their SIM to their Aadhaar details otherwise their services would be snapped. Gupta currently lives in Mumbai.