Increasing Number of Men and Women Falling Victims to Matrimonial Frauds

Hyderabad: Matrimonial frauds, where conmen exploit individuals seeking partners, are becoming a serious issue as both men and women are being given false assurances of high-paying jobs and lavish lifestyles from the partner-to-be. The scammers are crafting highly curated profiles seeing which many are falling prey oblivious of the financial loss or emotional damage the move can lead them to.

According to recent police reports, Cyberabad has registered 45 cases of matrimonial frauds, followed by Rachakonda seven and Hyderabad with 12.

Incidentally, women are often lured by men who present themselves as highly successful individuals. On the other hand, men are cheated by women, who manipulate investments or high returns in trading and cryptocurrency platforms.

Pointing out a notable case in Cyberabad, its cybercrime ACP Ravindra Reddy said that a woman was cheated by a man claiming to be from Mumbai. He presented himself as a well-established professional drawing a seven-figure pay. He met her at an expensive hotel after arriving in a Jaguar (rented of course), which she presumed was owned by him. Eventually, she was persuaded to give him a staggering `1.3 crore cash.

Rachakonda cybercrime DCP Aravind Babu cautioned that interested candidates must make a thorough check of the profiles they receive. They should meet the individual in person and be cautious as some tend to resort to impersonation.

A startup professional Bhargav (name changed) shared that a girl whom he showed interest in turned out to be a fake. He said, “She started talking about part-time jobs that her uncle was providing in Malaysia. She persuaded me to invest in cryptocurrency. I smelled something fishy and stopped texting her.”

However, another woman was smart enough to understand the situation and did not fall prey to one such scheming approach.

Imagine her shock when despite not losing any money, she went to the police station to file a complaint against the individual she was questioned by the police on why she was lodging a complaint in the first place.

Authorities point out that a key contributing factor to such fraudulent activities is a lack of proper background checks on matrimonial websites. Without verification, individuals can easily create fake profiles, making it hard for users to differentiate between legitimate and fraudulent intentions.