Lieutenant Colonel Ashiesh Kumar Dwivedi, now a joint director with the Union defence ministry, stepped out for a routine errand on July 6 in Wajidpur village, Noida. Whereas within the crowd, his cell phone was stolen. Involved however not alarmed, he reported the theft on the nearest police station the following day and got down to substitute his telephone and SIM card.
In line with the studies, inside 24 hours, the actual shock hit—financial institution alerts confirmed Rs 79,000 lacking from one account and Rs 34,000 from one other. Somebody had used his saved web banking credentials to buy e-commerce reward playing cards. His stolen telephone had grow to be the important thing to draining his financial savings. Panicked, Dwivedi rushed again to the police station to file a cybercrime grievance. By July 10, two FIRs had been in place—one for theft and one other beneath the IT Act for cyber fraud.
The police acted swiftly. “We managed to get better at the least 90 per cent of the stolen quantity. Rs 34,000 is already again in his account, and the remainder is on maintain and will likely be returned quickly,” Sunil Kumar, station home officer, Expressway police station, was quoted as saying by the Hindustan Instances.
For Arabindra Kumar, a easy vegetable run at Andal South Bazar in West Bengal’s Asansol, in October 2024, become a monetary catastrophe. In line with a report in The Statesman, amid the morning rush, he misplaced his telephone. An inconvenience, he thought, however nothing extra. He filed a lacking grievance at Andal police station and went about his day.
Inside 48 hours, he realised the true extent of the loss—Rs 3.6 lakh had disappeared from his accounts. Fraudsters withdrew Rs 1,49,541 and Rs 20,146 from his two SBI accounts and one other Rs 1,90,319 from his UBI account, the report stated. His telephone, with all his private and banking particulars, had grow to be a software for cybercriminals. Regardless of submitting a contemporary grievance and launching a cybercrime investigation, neither his telephone nor the culprits had been traced.
How massive is the issue?
In line with the Central Gear Identification Register (CEIR)—a centralised database that tracks cellular units utilizing their Worldwide Cell Gear Identification (IMEI) numbers—28,44,959 cell phones have been blocked after complaints had been filed, and over 16,99,023 have been efficiently traced.
In Delhi, the Metro unit of the police not too long ago recovered and returned over 450 stolen telephones––value greater than Rs 1 crore––to their homeowners inside 20 days. Nonetheless, this isn’t all the time the case.
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Dropping your smartphone places your private knowledge, funds, and privateness in danger. To grasp learn how to keep protected, indianexpress.com spoke with Ankush Mishra, deputy superintendent of police, cyber/particular activity drive, Uttarakhand, who shared sensible steps to minimise injury.
What to do in case your telephone is misplaced or stolen?
The second you realise your telephone is lacking, act quick. “File a grievance on the nearest police station, and report it on the CEIR portal (https://www.ceir.gov.in) to dam the system,” stated Mishra.
The CEIR system helps monitor and disable stolen units. As soon as blacklisted, the telephone gained’t work on any community, even with a brand new SIM. The portal has helped get better a 3rd of stolen telephones, making it a vital software for safety.
Easy methods to defend your knowledge earlier than theft? In line with Mishra, being proactive can save a number of bother. Utilizing an app locker to safe delicate functions and enabling WhatsApp chat locks might help preserve conversations personal. “It’s also suggested to maintain social media profiles personal, so the private particulars don’t fall into the palms of scammers. Most significantly it’s suggested to by no means share UPI PINs and banking credentials with anybody,” he stated.
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How safe are android and iOS telephones?
Relating to theft, there are key variations between Android and iOS units. Android telephones don’t have built-in SIM locking, which implies a thief can simply insert a brand new SIM card. Alternatively, iPhones hyperlink the SIM card to the Apple ID, making it a lot tougher for a thief to make use of and resell it with out bypassing safety measures.
What are the dangers of a stolen telephone?
Aside from shedding the system itself and the dangers of economic frauds, shedding a smartphone can produce other critical penalties. Identification theft is a danger, the place private info is stolen and misused. There’s additionally a menace to your privateness––delicate knowledge, together with images, movies and messages, saved on the system might get uncovered.
Most stolen telephones are utilized by thieves for his or her private use. In sure circumstances, telephones are resold, and a few thieves strip these telephones for elements and promote these at cheaper costs within the black market.
Suggestions for cellular security:
Legislation enforcement businesses emphasise on the significance of standard updates––each your telephone’s software program and the functions you utilize needs to be up to date recurrently. “Many individuals typically ignore these updates, however they include crucial safety patches that defend towards vulnerabilities. Having good anti-virus software program put in can also be really helpful to stop malicious assaults,” stated Mishra.
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Easy methods to safe your knowledge in case your telephone is stolen?
In case your telephone is stolen, securing your knowledge needs to be your high precedence, in line with Mishra. He shared 5 issues to do:
📌Delink your telephone from UPI and cost companies.
📌Notify your financial institution to limit on-line transactions.
📌Change passwords for e-mail and social media accounts.
📌 Log off remotely from WhatsApp and different apps.
📌Use the distant wipe function, if accessible, to erase all knowledge from the smartphone.
Frequent errors that make individuals extra weak:
“Many individuals overlook to log off of WhatsApp Internet and different related units, which supplies thieves direct entry to their messages,” stated Mishra, including, “Others fail to arrange restoration choices like an alternate e-mail or telephone quantity, making it a lot tougher to regain entry to their accounts after a theft.”
What to do when you discover your stolen telephone being resold?
In case you discover your stolen telephone being resold, don’t panic—you will have authorized choices to take motion. Mishra defined:
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IT Act Part 66B: This regulation covers the possession of stolen digital units. If somebody knowingly buys or retains a stolen telephone, they will resist three years in jail, a tremendous of as much as Rs 1 lakh or each.
IPC Part 411 (Part 317 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita): Anybody who receives or holds stolen property, figuring out it was stolen, will also be punished with imprisonment, a tremendous, or each, relying on the severity of the case.
“In case you spot your stolen telephone being offered on-line or in a market, collect proof (screenshots, receipts, vendor particulars) and report it to the police instantly. Taking swift motion can improve the probabilities of recovering your telephone and holding the vendor accountable,” stated Mishra.
The larger danger: How telephone theft threatens the BFSI sector
“Smartphone theft poses a serious danger to the Banking, Monetary Providers, and Insurance coverage (BFSI) sector by exposing delicate knowledge and login credentials. This will result in monetary fraud, id theft, and operational disruptions,” stated Anuj Khurana, co-founder and CEO, Anaptyss.
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“To mitigate these dangers, banks should allow security measures similar to cleanroom protocols limiting smartphone use in safe environments, guaranteeing community safety with totally monitored LAN setups, and utilising skinny purchasers with intensive IT controls like endpoint safety and distant monitoring,” he stated.
In line with Khurana, banks are:
📌Implementing AI-powered fraud detection to flag uncommon account exercise.
📌 Enhancing multi-factor authentication past simply passwords or OTPs.
📌Utilizing blockchain for safe id storage, decreasing reliance on bodily units.
“These superior measures make sure that even when a thief steals your telephone, they gained’t simply acquire entry to your private or monetary knowledge,” he stated.
Cellphone theft is a critical situation, however taking the correct precautions can considerably cut back the dangers. By securing your knowledge, retaining your software program up to date, and appearing shortly if theft happens, you possibly can defend your self from monetary loss, id theft, and privateness breaches.
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The Secure Facet: Because the world evolves, the digital panorama does too, bringing new alternatives—and new dangers. Scammers have gotten extra subtle, exploiting vulnerabilities to their benefit. In our particular function collection, we delve into the most recent cybercrime developments and supply sensible ideas that will help you keep knowledgeable, safe, and vigilant on-line.
