After Viswanathan of Choolai succumbed to the virus, his wife, Kanniyammal, transferred his bank account in her name. On Saturday, she received a call from a man identifying himself as the manager of the bank and claimed that he had called to verify her bank credentials. Trusting him, Kanniyammal shared the credentials as well as the OTP as he instructed.

 Using these details, the fraudster made purchases online for Rs 49,999. It was only later that the widow realised that she had been cheated. She approached the cyber cell of the Kilpauk police district. The officials made efforts to retrieve the lost money. However, they are doubtful of getting it back because the 24-hour golden period was already over by the time Kanniyammal filed the complaint. An officer said people were still not aware of cybercrimes and the dangers of sharing one-time passwords despite efforts by the banks. “When fraudsters threaten victims that their bank accounts would be closed or that they can no longer withdraw money if they don’t share the credentials, even the educated people end up sharing the details,” the officer added.

 Meanwhile, the Kilpauk cyber cell managed to retrieve money lost in two cases. Thirunavukkarasu of Kilpauk, who lost Rs 49,990 to fraudsters posing as bank staff on October 1, immediately approached the cyber cell. The officials managed to retrieve the entire money back to the victim’s account.