Bengaluru techie duped of ₹79 lakh in online matrimony-cum-investment scam: Report

The elaborate fraud, which played out over several months, combined emotional manipulation with false promises.

A 32-year-old software engineer from Bengaluru fell victim to a sophisticated cyber scam that began with a connection made on a matrimonial website and ended in a financial loss of nearly ₹79.3 lakh, reported The Times of India. The elaborate fraud, which played out over several months, combined emotional manipulation with false promises of marriage and high-return investments.

A Bengaluru man fell prey to an online scam.

Here is how the scam unfolded

According to a the report, the victim was contacted in early February 2025 by a woman who introduced herself as a professional from Visakhapatnam working for a trading company in the United Kingdom. She claimed she would travel to India in six months to take their relationship forward.

Over time, the two communicated frequently through calls and messages, building a sense of trust. Eventually, the woman introduced him to a “lucrative investment platform” that she claimed offered impressive returns. She explained how the trading system worked and convinced him to invest money by transferring funds into several bank accounts.

As part of the scam, multiple people posed as representatives of the trading company, calling from both Indian and UK numbers, and showed him fake profit statements to increase credibility. When the victim attempted to withdraw the profits, he was told that additional payments were required for taxes and processing. Under pressure and fearing the loss of his initial investments, he continued to transfer money.

Between March and June, the victim made 18 separate transfers totalling ₹72.3 lakh into 12 different accounts. It was only after a final demand for more money in mid-June, followed by silence from the fraudsters, that he realised he had been conned and approached the police on June 23.

Investigators revealed that even a fake customer support executive had called him from an international number to maintain the scam. A case has been registered under relevant sections of the Information Technology Act and Section 318 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (cheating).

A senior police officer involved in the case said that chances of recovering the funds are slim due to the delay in reporting the crime. “The fraudsters moved the money quickly across accounts and withdrew part of it. Reporting such crimes immediately improves the chances of recovery,” he was quoted as a saying by the publication.