CHENNAI: An 80-year-old man, who retired as managing director of a private firm, lost Rs 1.4 lakh to cyber scammers who struck twice in two weeks.
R Santhanam, a resident of Velachery, says he now dreads receiving phone calls. “I have always been cautious with my financial dealings, but these fraudsters sound so convincing. I feel humiliated and helpless. I just want others, especially people my age, to know how easily we can be misled,” he adds.
His troubles started on Dec 15, 2024, when he received a series of text messages and opened them thinking they were about an impending hospital visit. Then he saw that Rs 77,000 had been withdrawn from his Axis Bank account. Santhanam at once contacted the bank’s toll-free number to block the card and reported the incident to the cybercrime helpline (1930), the Velachery police, and visited the bank branch 300 metres from his home. The stolen amount, it was later revealed, was transferred to an account in Gurgaon.
On Dec 30, Santhanam received another call from a person claiming to be an Axis Bank manager named Ravi Mishra. The caller said he was calling from Bengaluru and had good news: the lost money had been recovered and would be credited to Santhanam’s account shortly. When Santhanam said he would visit the nearby bank branch, the caller insisted that the process could only be handled remotely.
After telling Santhanam to shut himself in a room for privacy, the caller asked him for his customer ID and password. He also asked if Santhanam had other savings accounts. Santhanam gave him all the details. Within minutes, Rs22,000 and Rs46,000 were withdrawn from two separate bank accounts. Santhanam once again approached his banks, only to be informed that the funds had been transferred to an account in Bihar and withdrawn.
“Fraudsters are constantly updating their techniques. In this case, they used information gathered from previous breaches to build trust with the victim,” said a senior cybercrime officer. “We strongly advise the public to report any suspicious calls immediately and never reveal banking credentials over the phone,” the officer said.