A transport businessman in Ahmedabad’s Narol area lost Rs 1.16 lakh from his bank account after two men allegedly snatched his mobile phone and used banking and UPI applications to transfer money, according to a report by Gujarat Samachar – Ahmedabad. Narol police have registered a case under cyber-fraud and Information Technology Act provisions and begun an investigation.
The incident took place while the businessman was walking on the road and speaking on his phone. Two men riding a motorcycle allegedly approached him, snatched the device from his hand and fled. The report identifies the victim as a transport-sector businessman but does not provide his name or the exact location of the incident within Narol.
The financial loss was discovered the following day. The businessman obtained a replacement SIM card for the same mobile number from his telecom operator and inserted it into another phone. Soon afterwards, he began receiving repeated messages showing that money had been debited from his bank account.
According to the report, a total of Rs 1.16 lakh was transferred from the account to other bank accounts. The transfers were allegedly made using the banking application and UPI platform installed on the stolen phone. The businessman contacted the national cyber-fraud helpline 1930 after discovering the transactions.
The case highlights the potential link between physical mobile theft and immediate digital financial fraud. A stolen phone can provide access to banking or payment applications when the device is accessible, although the supplied report does not establish whether the phone was unlocked when it was snatched. It also does not confirm the precise method used to authorise the transfers.
The report says police are examining whether the device was unlocked because the victim had been using it while walking, or whether the SIM card was placed in another device to obtain one-time passwords that could be used in the process of resetting a UPI PIN. These possibilities remain part of the investigation and have not been established as the confirmed modus operandi in this case.
Narol police have registered the complaint under various provisions relating to cyber fraud and the Information Technology Act. Investigators are also examining whether the accused were local mobile snatchers or part of a wider group involved in using stolen phones for rapid financial fraud, according to the report.
The case adds a digital-financial dimension to mobile snatching in the city. The immediate police investigation will determine how the stolen device, SIM access, banking application and UPI transactions were connected, as well as whether the transferred funds can be traced or recovered.
