CHENNAI: A 36-year-old private IT company employee allegedly lost Rs 1.90 lakh to cyber fraudsters who contacted him claiming that a new credit card protection plan had been activated in his name.

The victim, Subburaj, a native of Sivakasi, works at a private IT company in Guindy and stays at a men's hostel in Sabthagiri Colony, Jafferkhanpet, Chennai.

According to the complaint, Subburaj received a phone call on October 18 from an unidentified person who claimed that a credit card protection plan had been activated on his card. The caller told him that he could cancel the plan by visiting a website identified as 'user plan online ICICI' and entering a one-time password (OTP).

Trusting the caller's instructions, Subburaj visited the website and entered the OTP. Shortly afterwards, he received a message stating that Rs 1,90,097 had been debited from his account.

Realising that he had been cheated by cyber fraudsters, Subburaj lodged a complaint with the MGR Nagar police station on Thursday night.

Based on the complaint, MGR Nagar police registered a case and launched an investigation into the incident.