A Hyderabad resident was contacted on Facebook with promises of high returns and added to a WhatsApp group named after a well-known brokerage. A man claiming to be its chief investment officer told him he could get IPO allotments through "institutional buyers" because he was a high net worth investor, and gave him so-called regulatory accounts for the payments.

Over about three weeks he paid around ₹5.27 crore and could withdraw only ₹45,000. He was also asked to open a new bank account and share its net banking login for a commission. Telangana police arrested one accused in West Bengal.

The lesson: real IPO applications go through your own demat account and bank, never into someone else's account.