A caller promising a premium credit card sent a Nungambakkam man a mobile phone for “2-step verification”; once his SIM went in, ₹17.6 lakh was gone.
The phone came the day after the call.
On 23 April a man rang the 34-year-old Nungambakkam resident and offered him a premium credit card “with many benefits”, supposedly based on his credit score. A link followed on WhatsApp, asking for his bank account and other details. The next day the caller sent him a handset and told him to put his own SIM card in it for “2-step verification”. Soon after he did, ₹10 lakh was taken from his bank account and another ₹7.6 lakh was spent online on his credit card, police said.
The main points
- Bait: a premium credit card offer, then a WhatsApp link asking for bank details.
- Hook: a phone posted to the victim, with instructions to fit his own SIM.
- Loss: ₹10 lakh from the bank account, ₹7.6 lakh on the credit card.
- Arrest: a 26-year-old from Murshidabad, West Bengal, on 6 November.
The money trail led to Murshidabad
He first complained on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, then went to the East Zone Cyber Crime police station of the Greater Chennai Police, which registered a case. A team led by the station inspector followed the bank account details to Murshidabad district in West Bengal. With help from the local police there, it arrested a 26-year-old man on 6 November. He was produced in a Murshidabad court, brought to Chennai after the legal formalities and then produced before a magistrate here, who remanded him in judicial custody.
Six and a half months passed between the call and the arrest.
Where to report a fraud
The national cyber crime helpline, 1930, works 24 hours a day, and the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal at cybercrime.gov.in takes complaints about online financial fraud and lets a complainant track the investigation. Police guidance on the helpline urges people to report quickly, because evidence can be destroyed if a complaint is delayed. The Chennai case began on that portal.
Checked against official sources on 11 November 2026.
Sources
- Greater Chennai Police, East Zone Cyber Crime: arrest in credit card fraud case, November 2026
- National Cyber Crime Reporting Helpline No. 1930, Kerala Police (Ernakulam Rural Cyber Police Station)
- National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, Ministry of Home Affairs
