Casual dumping of mobile number proves costly for woman in Kollam

Her bank account was wiped of nearly ₹8 lakh through the mobile number that she had not used for months

The casual dumping of a mobile number linked to one’s bank account could prove quite costly going by the experience of a housewife at Kollam recently.

She had a rude surprise when her bank account was wiped clean of nearly ₹8 lakh. It emerged that a mobile number linked to her account that she had not used for months enabled the fraudsters to get access to her money. The number was automatically reassigned to a new user who reset the password using the One Time Password (OTP) that the bank send to her number.

“Numbers either not recharged after the validity period or unused for 3 to 6 months get recalled into the number pool and will be reassigned to new users in due course. Else, the previous user should have availed of the ‘safe custody’ provision whereby she can retain the number for longer durations even if unused for prolonger periods,” said an executive associated with a telecom service provider.