Hyderabad, Nov. 12 -- A software employee in Hyderabad has lost Rs 33.62 lakh to cyber fraudsters, only to be shown fake profits of over Rs 1.44 crore on a bogus trading app and asked to pay another Rs 28.83 lakh to withdraw them.

According to Deccan Chronicle, the victim, Rupesh Kumar Perla, came across a Facebook advertisement that led him to a WhatsApp group named "Equirus Leap A606."

Within the group, a person introduced as a "financial advisor" named Divya Iyer allegedly guided him to install a trading app and invest in stocks and initial public offerings (IPOs). None of it was real.

The fraudsters first built his confidence with small amounts. Perla started with Rs 5,000 and withdrew Rs 4,257 to check whether the app paid out. It...