By Gandhya Senanayake -Daily Mirror onlineA seventeen-year-old youth who scammed several customers of a leading mobile service operator after fraudulently obtaining their personnel and SIM cards details was arrested by the Fraud Investigations Bureau and presented in Court.
The youth who reportedly worked in a telecommunication centre in Aluthgama earlier had called several unsuspecting mobile users and announced that they had won a large LCD TV in a draw, after which he obtained all necessary details regarding the SIM.
Thereafter he would inform the mobile operator that he had lost the phone and use the fraudulently obtained details to convince the mobile provider that he was the genuine user. The request for re-issuing of a new SIM would be made to his address.
moreThe youth who does not possess an NIC had duped couriers who delivered new SIMs to his home address. Following a string of under-cover operations, Police arrested the youth and recovered several fraudulently obtained SIMs – the numbers which had been used by him to advertise in leading newspapers regarding the sale of buses and other vehicles which he did not actually posses.
He had also convinced mobile owners to credit Rs.3500 to their own mobile accounts promising them unlimited calls for a full year and had later transferred the said amount using the details gathered to several other numbers of his choice.
The Fraud Investigations Bureau is conducting further investigations into the matter while Court proceedings are underway.
The Fraud Investigation Bureau strongly advised the public to be vigilant and not to provide sensitive details regarding their mobile accounts including personnel details to unverified persons and also warned to confirm any such activities with the relevant mobile operator.
