Next time if you get a missed call starting with +92; #90 or #09, don't show the courtesy of calling back. BSNL has issued alerts to subscribers — particularly about the series mentioned above — saying that calling the number back after a missed call may make a user susceptible to SIM card cloning. There is, however, confusion over this claim made by some BSNL and intelligence officials. Cloning a SIM card requires physical access to it or the interception of the communication between the caller and his or her cellphone operator's network.
It is said that one lakh subscribers have fallen prey to this scam. Intelligence agencies too are said to have confirmed to the service providers particularly in the UP West telecom division that such a racket is going on and the menace is growing fast. "We are sure there must be some more similar combinations that the miscreants are using to clone the handsets, including SIM, and all the information stored in them," an intelligence officer told TOI. (This claim made by this intelligence official seems implausible, or nearly impossible.)
General manager of BSNL, RV Verma, said the department had already issued alerts to all the broadband subscribers and now alerts were being SMSed to other subscribers as well.
Anyone can clone a SIM card by using a hardware tool that can read and copy information from it. But wirelessly or remotely intercepting information contained within the SIM, though theoretically possible, is considered extremely difficult. It may require hacking into the telecom operator's network or using very expensive tools. An article on eHow, a website that explains how users can performs various tasks using several gadgets, says that the SIM can be cloned using a cheap hardware tool that can extract the authentication key from one SIM and copy it to another. But it doesn't mention any method that can make use of missed calls to clone a SIM.
"It usually starts with a missed call from a number starting with +92. In case the subscriber takes the call before it is dropped as a missed call then the caller on the other end poses as a call center executive checking the connectivity. The caller then asks the subscriber to press # 09 or # 90 call back on his number to establish that the connectivity to the subscriber was seamless," says a victim who reported the matter to the BSNL office at Moradabad last week. "The moment I redialled the caller number, my account balance lost a sum of money. Thereafter, in the three days that followed every time I got my cell phone recharged, the balance would be reduced to single digits within the next few minutes," she told the BSNL officials.
Source:- Times of India
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