Matrimonial sites have become the latest destination for confident tricksters to find easy targets as per the number of complaints filed with the police's cyber cell. Everyday more and more people are getting swayed by the Greek god like profile pictures and unbelievable job profiles. Cyber crime cops say that a lot of such cases are filed on a regular basis.
Not only money, wedding portals are also being used by men to find girls for a short-term relationship.
For 30-year-old Rohan Ganguly (name changed), a call centre professional, matrimonial sites had become an easy venue to ‘pick’ up women. With a decent profile, he would lure women into meeting him. After a couple of meetings, Ganguly would drop the big question, ‘will you marry me’? Once the girl agreed, he would convince her to get involved in a physical relationship and after a while he would dissipate the relationship, turn off his phone and vanish.
Recounting a similar case, Prabhakar DYSP, CCPS, Bangalore, said, “A case was brought to my notice where a girl from Jayanagar was duped by this man who was from Hyderabad. After falling for his ‘looks’, she contacted him. They stayed in touch over the internet for a few days after which they met in a hotel in Jayanagar. As he promised to marry her, she agreed to his sexual advances. The very next day he vanished.” The cop added that except the man’s profile on the matrimony site, she didn’t know anything about him, so it was impossible to nab him.
“In such cases you cannot blame the matrimonial site but the victim. Everyone out there who is looking for a partner should be wary of such elements,” he said.
According to cops the most common cases are when people are looted on these sites. “A city based girl contacted a man on a famous matrimony site. The boy claimed that he was working for the United Nations (UN) and living abroad. Their affair continued for some days. He always contacted her from different numbers.
"One day he told her that his father was very ill and he was in dire need of money. Without cross checking the facts, the girl sent him Rs 2 lakh. Over time, the demand increased and the girl ended up giving Rs 20 lakh. Finally, she became suspicious and reported the matter,” said Prabhakar.
After the episode was over, the con man went back to the site and made a new profile. The cops tried to nab him but he managed to slip away.
When Vishal Garg from Aligarh got married to the woman of his dreams whom he met on a matrimonial site, he had no clue what he was in for. His wife was an IT professional in Bangalore and promised to get a transfer to Aligarh after the wedding. “She stayed with me only for 7 days after which she left for Bangalore. After a few months, a man in Bangalore killed himself and it came to light that my wife had something to do with it. When I questioned her, she filed a case against me under the Dowry Harassment Act. Now she is demanding Rs 25 lakh and a divorce,” he said.