Thiruvananthapuram: Cyber fraudsters have once again conned four people here of Rs 1.90 crore by promising huge profits through online share trading. A 49-year-old Kanniyakumari native residing at Pangappara near Sreekariyam suffered the most, losing Rs 1.44 crore in a single go.

He was conned into joining WhatsApp groups, Tata Investment Club and Share Boost, and installing an app on his mobile phone for trading shares online. Another resident of Sreekariyam, a 48-year-old man living at Mankuzhy, lost Rs 17 lakh. He was made to join the WhatsApp group, Stock Vanguard.
A man residing at Kallattumukku in Manacaud lost Rs 27 lakh, and another 47-year-old resident of Gandhipuram, Sreekariyam, was made poorer by Rs 2 lakh.

All four men had fallen for online advertisements offering an easy way to make money. They were asked to register themselves once they clicked on the links provided in the advertisements. They were later instructed to join certain WhatsApp and Telegram groups, and to install an app.

Once the app was installed, they were told to invest money, ranging from Rs 500 to Rs 5,000. Once invested, they were returned double the investment. The members of the chat groups — allegedly representatives of the con gang — shared messages saying they had received four times the investment made.

The messages were shared to win the trust of other credulous members. The men invested huge amounts trusting the messages. Though the installed app showed their investment had multiplied, they could not withdraw the money. Later they were told to deposit money to a specified account to withdraw the profits. The men lost more money when they deposited as told. The police have registered a case based on the four complaints.