Chennai: A 71-year-old woman from Anna Nagar died of cardiac arrest just hours after she was conned by fraudsters who siphoned off Rs 90,000 from her bank account after identifying themselves over the phone to her as bank officials. Her family members have filed a complaint with the Thirumangalam police seeking action against the scamsters.
The victim, R Jayalakshmi was living with her family on 4th street, AF block in Anna Nagar. Her husband, M Rajendran is a retired treasury officer. On Friday, Jayalakshmi had received a phone call around 2 30 pm. The caller had told the elderly woman that her ATM card had expired and sought her bank account details.
“She did not share it immediately, but the caller had told her that all her savings would vanish if she did not do so, after which she shared the bank account details and her Aadhaar card number”, according to a relative of the deceased.
Further, the caller had also made several calls to get the One Time Password (OTP) from the elderly lady who did not realise that she was being conned. “The whole con unfolded in about half an hour”, the relative said.
A few hours later, she received a call from the actual bank officials who told her that close to a lakh of rupees was withdrawn from her account after which she informed her family. She went to the bank in Anna Nagar on Saturday along with her nephew Mahalingam. After confirming that the money was transferred by point of sale (POS) transaction, the duo went to police station to file a complaint where she complained of chest pain.
Police said that the woman was moved to a private hospital on Saturday afternoon. “On Sunday morning, she was declared dead after suffering a minor heart attack”, according to the complaint. Thirumangalam police have registered a case and are investigating.
