Fraud on Matrimonial, networking sites: Cyber police register 62 cases since January 2016

In last two months, the Cyber crime branch of the Pune city police have arrested four persons while investigating cases of women being cheated by conmen whom they met through matrimonial websites. Two were arrested from Ahmedabad while two others were Nigerian nationals living in Navi Mumbai. The interrogation of the arrested persons in these two breakthroughs and those from earlier arrests have revealed that the modus operandi in these cases is like any other advanced fee scam but the method of making the first contact with the person is through online matrimonial services or social networking websites by tricksters who have fake profiles on these platforms.

An officer from the Cyber crime cell said, “We have observed that many victims are widows or divorced while some are elderly women looking for life partners. But all the victims have been found to be economically sound, according to Crime branch. This means that the online criminal with fake profiles first look for vulnerable persons and then make contact. In most of the cases the person poses to be settled or working abroad, thus making actual meeting difficult. Later, phone numbers, email addresses are shared to increase communication and gain trust. After gaining enough trust, money is demanded on various pretexts. Most common is the modus operandi like any other advanced fee scam where money is asked on various pretexts like customs clearance of costly gifts or as conversion charges for foreign currency, government clearance for diamonds, gold or inherited wealth. In some other cases, reason of illness of family member is given and money is asked for treatment. All this money is asked as online transfer and the person never meets the victim. It is because of the rise in these cases and also in their reporting this year, we have separately analysed them.”

Senior inspector Sunil Pawar of Cyber Crime cell of Pune police said, “After the contact is made through such sites, the tricksters delete the profiles and only communicate through phones, emails or phone messengers. Since January this year, we have seen 62 such cases in which the women have been cheated to as much as Rs 3.75 crore. Age group of women varies between 30 and 60, and the cheating amount ranges between Rs 15,000 and Rs 94 lakh.”

Pawar added, “We have observed that in most cases, the women had not told anyone that they were communicating with these people. This means that there was no one to stop them from falling prey to these criminals. In none of these cases, proper background checks were made. We have seen that some women have even sold properties to arrange for the money asked by the fraudsters.”

In a case registered in April this year, a 38-year-old software professional from Pune was duped of Rs 38 lakh by a man who posed as a doctor from the UK and met her on a matrimonial website. The trickster and his accomplices made her pay the money on various pretexts saying that he wanted to give her Rs 1.5 crore as gift and the money was asked for various clearances. In another case in September, a 63-year-old retired employee of a research lab lost Rs 94 lakh to an online criminal whom she met on social networking site and said he wanted to give her 95,000 British Pounds.

Senior inspector Pawar said, “We appeal to people that, no unknown requests should be accepted and thorough background checks must be done before taking any online acquaintance to a further level. Money transfers should be avoided.”