Women, NRI men fall victim to matrimony fraud, 16 cases this yr

Hyderabad: The cyber crime police observed that in the recent past several women, mostly divorced or widowed, and NRI men, were falling victims to matrimony fraud. At least 16 such cases have been reported in the city so far this year.In a recent case, a 44-year-old divorced woman was cheated by a Nigerian on an online matrimonial portal. The victim Haritha (name changed) joined the portal last year, a couple of years after she separated from her husband. She met the fraudster, who introduced himself as a doctor, on the portal. Soon, they started chatting frequently and exchanged phone number. The fraudster claimed to be residing in the UK with her daughter and told Haritha that he lost his wife in a car crash.After gaining the victim’s trust, the fraudster told Haritha that he had applied for Indian visa and booked tickets for India to meet her. “He told Haritha that he only knows her in India and wanted to meet her and her family to talk about marriage,” said S Harinath, assistant commissioner of police (cyber crime), Rachakonda.Later, Haritha received a call from a woman, who claimed to be from the customs department. She told Haritha that he was carrying a lot of cash and gifts, and has been taken into custody for money laundering. “The customs officer asked Haritha to send money to various accounts to secure his release. Haritha sent over Rs 5 lakh, only to find out that she has been cheated. After sending the money, Haritha never received any call from the customs officers or the fraudster,” added the ACP.“These fraudsters have been targeting women, who are in the age group of 35 to 50 years, and are widowed, divorced or looking for a partner on online matrimonial portals,” the ACP explained.It was also found that several NRI grooms, looking for brides on community matrimony portals, have also fallen into similar traps. In a recent case, a US-based man from Hyderabad was looking for a bride on an online matrimony portal. He met a woman and after weeks of chatting, they decided on the dates of engagement and marriage in April.“The woman told the victim that she got a job opportunity at CISCO at West Palm Beach, which is an hour journey from the victim’s place and asked him to send USD 2,900 for initial cost,” said a police officer. After the victim sent around Rs 4 lakh, the woman stopped calling him. The accused woman was found to have been caught at least four times for luring NRI Telugu grooms on matrimony websites and cheating them.