Mangaluru: A man, enticed by the promise of earning money through an online assignment, found himself defrauded of more than Rs 21.51 lakh.

As per the report filed at the CEN police station, he received a forwarded message within a WhatsApp group that led him into a Telegram app community via a provided link. In this group, he was instructed to complete a task and was initially asked to pay Rs 5,000.

With an initial deposit of Rs 6,500 into his account, he started transferring substantial sums of money between November 4 and 7. By the time he realized he had been duped, he had already transferred a total of Rs 21.51 lakh.