The victim, a 75-year-old doctor, lives alone in Anna Nagar since his sons are settled abroad. He recruited a housemaid a few years ago and made her stay in a rented house in the same building along with her minor son, who completed Class 12 this year.

The boy, who learnt the doctor’s debit card details, since he made some payments using his phone, used the credentials to buy an expensive mobile phone for himself to play online games such as PUBG and FreeFire. He is also said to have bought similar phones to his friends apart from making payments on the application to upgrade the games.

The doctor, who realised that upto Rs 7.5 lakh has been withdrawn from his account, lodged a complaint at Anna Nagar police station. The cyber cell investigated the case and found out that the juvenile was behind the offence.

However, the doctor withdrew the complaint after the boy’s mother promised to return the valuables her son bought. When contacted, a senior police official said even otherwise the minor boy cannot be booked since it was not a heinous crime.