A Mandya driver has been arrested for stealing ₹3.45 lakh from an elderly woman after swapping her SIM and siphoning money from her bank account.
Story so far: Working for a private company providing on-demand driver services, 31-year-old Prakash GB has been held for stealing over ₹3 lakhs through UPI transactions. The victim, Vimala S Itagi, hired Prakash to travel to a relative’s house on May 8. She asked him to stop at a restaurant on the way and left her mobile phone in the car while she was away. The driver then allegedly replaced her SIM card with a deactivated one.
- While he didn’t have a phone, Prakash would put his SIM in a family member’s phone to make calls. He then realised that digital payments could be made if a SIM card was linked to a bank account using one-time passwords (OTPs).
- He used an application to transfer money into his account, eventually making UPI transfers worth over ₹3 lakhs.
Action taken: The police have seized ₹1.3 lakhs from Prakash’s bank account in addition to a scooter and mobile phone that he allegedly bought with the stolen money. Two other mobile phones and three SIM cards were also taken from him.
- The police advised the public to avoid leaving phones unattended. If a phone goes missing, one must contact their banks immediately to block the linked accounts and get a new SIM card as soon as possible.