Tomy A Varghese and Shini Tomy, the Malayali couple in Bengaluru accused in a chit fund scam, relied on goodwill and a word-of-mouth campaign to build trust and spread business. Representatives of Malayali associations and forums recollected how Tomy and Shini would actively participate in religious gatherings and festivals and come up with sponsorship of their company, named A&A Chits and Finance. In January 2025, they had sponsored an event at a religious festival.

The case came to light with a lone complaint from a pensioner, a resident of Peroor, Kottayam. As cops reached out to investors, 289 depositors reached Ramamurthy Nagar police station on Monday with individual complaints. The total deposit in the firm is estimated to be above ₹100 crore. Onmanorama spoke to some of the investors who have been allegedly duped, and all of them said that they didn't invest directly in the firm, but they got acquainted via either a family member, a friend or a relative.

One of the investors was drawn to the fund by his friend. "They promised returns of 12-13% which seemed good. They promptly credited the interest also, earning our trust. So I asked my daughter and son to invest. Another friend also invested his savings," said a complainant who did not want to be named for this article. An investor had met with Tomy three months ago and said that he would require funds for a personal emergency in July. "He agreed to it. There was no reason to doubt him. But since last week, the couple was missing. Both of them regularly came to the office, and when we asked the staff, they were clueless. We contacted them via phone and there was no answer," an investor from Kerala said.

The amount deposited by investors range between ₹1 lakh and ₹4.5 crore. The complainants have connected with each other over WhatsApp and filed individual complaints with the police. "We used to send the money to the account and post a screenshot on Tomy's number. Usually, he responds promptly. I sent the money on June 30 morning and till now the message hasn't been seen," another investor said.

An office-bearer of the Bengaluru-based collective of Malayalis said that Tomy regularly attended community gatherings and church meetings. "They canvassed people to invest savings in their chit fund. The interest rate was attractive and they had a long history which naturally inspired trust," he said. Many of the investors who filed complaints on Monday have associated with the chit fund for a long term. "It started with my father and then my sister and I deposited our funds. There was never a reason to suspect them," a woman said.

Tomy and Shini started off on a small scale, doing door-to-door visits for chit funds. As the business grew, they started a new office in Mangaluru. They also launched a website for the company. The couple offered chit fund schemes on a monthly subscription plan for amounts ranging between ₹5000 and ₹20,000. The schemes came with a promise that it was governed by RBI regulations and prize money would be released after 30 days from the date ofthe  auction. In many cases, the depositors would be asked to invest in another deposit scheme upon maturity. "When my fund matured, I was offered to invest in a fixed deposit scheme for a higher interest and I agreed," an investor said. The maximum auction bid was fixed at 30% dividend for all prized and non-prized subscribers. They also claimed that the money was secure because the Registrar of Chits governed it and total worth of each chit scheme was deposited with the Registrar of Chits.

Residents of Ramankari in Kerala’s Alappuzha district, from where Tomy hails, said that the family moved to Bengaluru 25 years ago and they rarely visited the village. Tomy's house, owned by his late father, is located on the AC road near the Panchayat office. "The house is abandoned and overgrown with shrubs. They have a few cents of paddy land here, other than that they do not hold any assets here," a panchayat representative said.

D Devaraja, DCP, East, Bengaluru city, said that the cops are collecting information from the depositors. "We have called for a meeting to gather more information from the depositors. The actual scale of the scam would be known only later," he told Onmanorama. The couple resided in an apartment at KR Puram. When an investor went there, he was told that the apartment was sold off. Onmanorama couldn't verify this. The couple's daughter stayed in Bengaluru while one of their sons was in Goa and another in Canada.