A 36-year-old software engineer was cheated by “prospective bride” on a matrimonial site who offered to help him earn quick money through online investment and escaped with ₹26 lakh over one-and-a-half months.
The victim, a resident of Horamavu, filed a complaint with the east division cybercrime police on Friday. In his complaint, the victim said he was checking a popular online matrimony portal for matching profiles and came across one Bhavika on March 3. Introducing herself as an investment banker, Bhavika told him that she was into online trading and offered to teach the tricks of the trade to him to earn more money.
Carried away, he exchanged contact numbers and chatted on WhatsApp before Bhavika helped him enrol in an online trading website and offered to help him invest the initial ₹1 lakh. The trade went well and the victim was excited that he earned ₹7,500. Bhavika even helped him withdraw the money.
The next day, Bhavika advised him to invest more money to earn a good profit following which he invested his savings of ₹10 lakh, But to his shock, he lost all the money in one trade. Bhavika soon advised him to invest another round of big money to recover his loss. With no money left, he borrowed a personal loan of ₹16 lakh from a bank on April 17 and invested it.
According to him, the trade went well and his trade account showed huge profit margin. The cheating came to light when he asked her help withdraw the money to which she asked him to invest ₹10 lakh again. Suspecting something fishy, he checked with his friends and realised that he had been duped. In his complaint, he said that the whole trade was fraudulent and even her profile on the matrimonial site was later found to be fake.
The police found the suspect was operating from the U.K. based on the country code of the WhatsApp number used. “The complainant could have checked with friends or some experts before making the online investment. Online investment frauds represent over 20% of the total cybercrimes reported in the city. Fraudsters target gullible people and lure them with high returns charming them through different modus operandi,” a police officer said.
