Befriended 500 women in 2 years: Man held for duping women on matrimonial, dating sites    

Anand’s cover was blown after a 30-year-old woman filed a complaint earlier this year alleging that she was duped of Rs 7 lakh by one Vaibhav Arora she met on a matrimonial site. She alleged that she was not able to get in touch with the man for the past 15 days and that his friend told her that he was dead. A case was registered.

“The complainant said he presented himself as a well-settled and respectable person. After gaining her trust, he started talking to her on Instagram and later WhatsApp, allegedly using multiple mobile numbers,” DCP (South-West) Amit Goel said.

It was Anand who used the alias of Vaibhav. He had created a fake profile and the pictures he used were from random Instagram accounts, police said. He started talking to the complainant in December, and the woman eventually fell in his trap, police said.

Vaibhav would never show his face. While talking to the woman on video calls, he would either say he was at some meeting or that his family members were around to avoid showing his face, police said.

However, in late January, the woman got a video call. The caller introduced himself as Anand.

“She had never seen Vaibahav. The photos were of someone else. Thus she believed that Anand was actually Vaibhav’s friend. He said Vaibhav needed help,” an officer said.

He allegedly said Vaibhav’s mother was sick and that he was incurring losses in his business.

“Anand asked for monetary help. She transferred Rs 15,000 in one go. Then she got a call from Vaibhav’s number during which he claimed he needed more. By January, she had allegedly transferred Rs 7 lakh to the accused,” an officer said.

The accused then started ignoring her calls or messages often, citing health issues. When the woman insisted on seeing ‘Vaibhav’, Anand called her again as his friend and told her that he was dead. The woman subsequently lodged a police complaint.

After sustained technical surveillance, police zeroed in on two active numbers in West Bengal. A series of coordinated raids led to Anand’s arrest. From his possession, officers recovered four smartphones, eight SIM cards, debit cards, and gold ornaments purchased from the defrauded money.

The phones were scanned. Police said conversations with multiple victims, who belonged to various states, were found.

Police said Anand is a habitual offender and has been previously involved in various cases in Delhi and Ghaziabad. Investigators are now trying to identify other victims and find out if Anand had any accomplice.