A man in Mangaluru was added, without asking, to a WhatsApp group named after a well-known brokerage that posted daily stock tips. Once he trusted the admins, they sent him a link to join their "online platform".

Over about two weeks he paid instalments into several bank accounts they gave him. When they asked for more money so he could "receive the full profit", he grew suspicious and spoke to his children. By then he had lost ₹2.7 crore.

The lesson: being added to a trading group you never joined, and then being asked to pay before you can take out your profit, are two warning signs together.