COIMBATORE: The Coimbatore city police had within a fortnight recovered Rs 40 lakhs siphoned off by scamsters from the account of a 70-year-old Siddha practitioner in a parcel scam.

Chandrasekar, a ‘Siddha practitioner’ from Saibaba Colony received a call from a person pretending to be a cop from the narcotics department. The scamster threatened action by claiming that the elderly man had received a parcel containing banned narcotics.

Though Chandrasekar claimed ignorance, the fraudster to avoid action had asked him to transfer the amount of Rs 40 lakhs in his bank account to his account for verification purposes.

Trusting him to be a cop, the octogenarian transferred the amount but didn’t receive the money back. Upon receiving a complaint, the cybercrime police got into action by freezing the account of the scamster.

In further action, the cybercrime police also recovered the entire amount and handed it over to Chandrasekar on Thursday.