In this paper we deal with the projective synchronization (PS) of hyperchaotic complex nonlinear systems and its application in secure communications based on passive theory. The unpredictability of the scaling factor in PS can additionally enhance the security of communications. In this paper, a scheme for secure message transmission is proposed, and we try to transmit more than one large or bounded message from the transmitter to the receiver. The new hyperchaotic complex Lorenz system is employed to encrypt these messages. In the transmitter, the original messages are modulated into its parameter. In the receiver, we assume that the parameter of the receiver system is uncertain. The controllers and corresponding parameter update law are constructed to achieve PS between the transmitter and receiver system with an uncertain parameter, and identify the unknown parameter via passive theory. The original messages can be recovered successfully through some simple operations by the estimated parameter. Numerical results have verified the effectiveness and feasibility of the presented method