VELLORE: Cyber fraudsters, who have long plagued message boards, social media and online dating applications, have turned to matrimonial websites from where they have been illegally mining profile data of victims, swindling lakhs of rupees from them. In just the last two months, the Vellore cyber crime police have received four such cases of fraud, where the fraudsters have lured the victims through matrimonial websites, pushing online trading scams to steal money.
Sources from the cyber crime police in the district said the suspects, illegally obtaining contact information details from said websites, approach unsuspecting individuals under the pretext of marrying them. A gang involved in the fraud used voice-modulation software to pose as a potential bride or groom, said an official, adding that they communicated via instant messaging applications and avoided video calls or in-person meetings.
In one such case, a 33-year-old man from the district, who had registered his profile on a matrimonial website, was contacted by a suspect with a profile name "Aaradhya," expressing interest in marrying him. While contacting over WhatsApp, the suspect claimed to have earned substantial money through online trading, convincing the man to complete a set of tasks and invest `6,71,000. When the petitioner found he could not withdraw the money, he lodged a complaint with the Vellore cyber crime unit. Sources said that most of the victims belonged to the middle-class, socio-economically.
Vellore Cyber Crime Inspector K Punitha told TNIE, "We are continuously raising awareness, but many fall into such traps in their quest for money and end up losing their financial savings." She urged the public to immediately report such activities to the police and verify links sent from such profiles twice, before opening them.