The cybercrime branch of Lucknow Police has returned Rs 2,34,000 to the four local victims of online fraud in separate cases.

In the first case, Ram Dev Verma was sent a text asking him to update his credit card information. He fell for the message and followed all instructions given to him. Verma even downloaded a remote application and shared the OTP. Subsequently, Rs 99,470 was debited from his account.

"When he got a complaint lodged with the cybercrime unit, the account was frozen and the money was returned to the victim," said the cybercrime cell in a press release.

In two more similar cases, Dharmendra Kumar Singh and Dilip Kumar Mishra were duped of Rs 84,000 and Rs 70,000 respectively.

They were also told to 'update their credit card information'.

After the cybercrime team froze their account, an amount of Rs 44,498 was returned to Dharmendra while Rs 64,000 was transferred back to Dilip.

In yet another case, city resident Abhishek Mishra was duped of Rs 27,000 under the pretext of providing him with a work-from-home job. The fraudster reached out to him via Telegram and asked for his bank details. The money has been returned to him. [IANS/NS]