Mangaluru: Man duped of Rs 23.98 lakh in fake 5G SIM upgrade scam

Mangaluru: Man duped of Rs 23.98 lakh in fake 5G SIM upgrade scam

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, Jul 15, 2026: A 43-year-old man from Mangaluru allegedly lost Rs 23,98,138 in a cyber fraud after scammers posing as customer care executives tricked him into believing that his 4G SIM card needed to be upgraded to 5G.

According to the police complaint, the victim received a call on July 8 from a person claiming to represent his mobile service provider. The caller said the existing SIM card required an upgrade to support 5G services and shared some of the complainant’s personal details to gain his trust.

The caller then instructed the victim to check his Gmail account and click the "Yes" option in a message sent to him. He was also told that his mobile network would remain inactive for a few hours as part of the upgrade process.

Believing the caller, the complainant followed the instructions and approved the prompts in the email. Soon afterwards, his SIM card stopped working. When he contacted the caller using another phone, he was assured that the disruption was due to a temporary server issue and that the connection would be restored shortly.

The SIM, however, remained inactive throughout the day. The caller continued to reassure the victim until the evening of July 9, claiming the issue would soon be resolved.

Growing suspicious, the complainant visited a local office of his mobile service provider, where officials informed him that SIM upgrades are never carried out over phone calls. Realising he had fallen victim to a scam, he immediately removed the inactive SIM from his phone.

The next day, during a visit to his bank, he allegedly discovered that Rs 2.89 lakh had been withdrawn from his accounts without authorisation. Police said the fraudsters had also taken a loan of Rs 9 lakh against one of his credit cards, transferred the amount to his bank account, and then moved the money to other accounts.

Additionally, the accused allegedly transferred Rs 4.06 lakh, Rs 3.03 lakh and Rs 5 lakh using three separate credit cards. In all, the complainant reported losing Rs 23,98,138 through unauthorised transactions carried out between July 8 and 9.

Police have registered a case and launched an investigation into the cyber fraud.